Symbols of the Beast
by MuffledSnickers
Summary: Rogue and Remy are sent on a supposedly small mission, the creature they find is more powerful than anything they've faced. Grows to war against the Devil. Rogue becomes the Chosen One to carry Lucifer. Inside summary is better, includes Xmen and Avengers
1. The Creature

_Summary: A new threat from old ages has come upon the X-men; the monster seems to have every kind of power and is extremely dangerous. When Xavier notices the slight mix up the first time he only sends Rogue and Remy to handle what seem to be a small problem, but when Rogue gets bitten her whole life takes a turn for the worse. Will the Avengers help Rogue and the X-men? Or will hatred consume their hearts of events passed and make them fail in their conquest? The creature has a purpose too though and they must stop it before it reaches its goal or many more poor souls will die with the new terror._

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_Rogue._

The Professor's voice inside her head was one that she was used to and not afraid of. She was so used to hearing it by now she didn't even look up as she responded. _Yes Professor, Ah'm here._

_I was wondering if I could see you in my office for a moment please?_

_Ok, I'll be there in a minute. _Wondering what he could have happened Rogue stood up from her bed and casually walked down the hall to the Professors office. It couldn't have been anything very important or else he would have summoned the entire team. Rogue pulled open the tall oak door and was surprised to see Remy's back turned to the Professor's desk; he gave her a cocky smile.

"Remy! When did ya get back?" Remy smiled warmly at the elation in his lover's voice at his return.

"Good t' see y' too _cherie_." Rogue ran up to him and he embraced her warmly in his arms.

"Ah was worried somethin' had happened to ya."

Remy held her by her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "No t'ing can touch dis sexy thief, he too smooth fo' dem all." Rogue chuckled and laid her head down to rest on Remy's shoulder as he held her gently.

"Ah missed ya Remy."

"Remy missed y' too _p'tite_, he glad t' be back wit' y'."

Professor Xavier's heart warmed as he watched the two lovers embrace and exchange private conversation. He wished the whole world could be like this, just peaceful and loving to one another. That was a part of his goal.

Rogue tilted her head and seemed to notice Xavier for the first time. She gently lifted her head off Remy's shoulder.

"What was it that you needed Professor?"

Charles Xavier straightened in his hover chair and laid his hands gently down on his lap. "I have a mission for you and Remy."

"What's amatta with the world now?"

"Nothing dire, I assure you. I've just detected a small disturbance in Central New York City; I was hoping you could fly Remy and yourself down there to see if it's anything that needs our help. My detection was unnatural and I couldn't get a read on it, but it didn't feel like a big threat. The other X-Men are all being sent to help a young man named Derrick Eldan in Ohio and I have no one else for this."

"It's alrigh' Professor." Rogue drawled out thickly in a deep southern accent. "Meh and Remy cahn go see what's wrong for ya."

"Y', we check de place out."

Charles nodded appreciatively. "Thank you Rogue, Remy, I appreciate it very much."

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Twenty minutes later after flying with Rogue faster than a plane they reached New York City and Rogue touchdowned behind the back of an old warehouse building that had long ago been abandoned. Rogue wore a thick leather jacket over a plain shirt with gloves that ran all the way up to the sleeves and jeans, Remy was wearing his traditional trench coat over a white T-shirt with scuffed up jeans. The Professor had said it was a better idea if Rogue hadn't worn her green and yellow outfit as it would draw attention and they were simply checking up on the disturbance.

Rogue and Remy walked quickly to the front of the building and left the street of the old abandoned homes. They came out onto a busy area that was crowded with milling people going about doing their daily chores and not caring about bumping into one another. Rogue shifted uncomfortably in the crowd and automatically Remy brought her closer to him with his arm around her shoulders. Rogue smiled appreciating his kindness at her discomfort and they continued their way down the busy street.

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Two hours later Rogue and Remy had found nothing dangerous and were having a good time together in the city. Rogue was really enjoying this private time with Remy. They had wound their way around the entire place about three times now when Remy stopped in his tracks.

"Somet'ing's watchin' us."

Rogue's joyous smile dropped from her face. "Huh?"

Remy motioned her to be quiet and walked up to a weird gothic style store and peered through the windows while concealing himself in the shadows, as soon as his footsteps got too close the window to the gothic store smashed apart and a monster of likes Rogue hadn't ever seen before jumped through to crash into Remy with its clawed fuzzy feet.

Rogue gasped in shocked amazement, the creature-she couldn't think to call it anything else-was the most hideous thing she had ever seen, and that was saying a lot. Its face was half in the form of a mountain cat, with the same kind of nose leading into the mouth, but its eyes were entirely black and one of them had a scar across one eye. They were untamed and full of bloodlust. Its fangs pointed out from its mouth and two jagged teeth pointed at least a foot down out of its mouth, sickly green saliva dripped from the fangs giving the impression of poison. Its entire face was covered in rough spikey hairs that looked more like porcupine needles. Following down its back was a row of reptilian scales that followed all the way down to its tail which reached out a good seven feet away from its body. Its muscled legs must have been a couple feet across at least, covered in a rocklike plate armor that seemed attached rather than adjusted on, its feet were both pawed and had identical claws from each paw. It had masculine arms that were a match to the hulks, only covered with weird symbols that looked cultish. Its shoulders had impressive looking spikes protruding half a foot out of each. One of its arms ended in a clawed paw, it was about a foot across. The other formed into what looked like a demented hand with slits in the knuckles in which identical blades emerged.

_That's a little too much like Wolvie for mah likes._ Rogue thought as Gambit stood up and looked at the beast in a morbid awe.

When it stood on its two hind legs it measured over nine feet tall and at least six across. They got a look at its massive chest that was covered in the samesymbols as the arms and seemingly steeled over before it lunged at Remy.

Remy barely had any time to avoid the attack and only at the last second dived out of the way, however the shoulder spikes still scraped his arm and he let out a yelp of surprise at the jolt of pain it sent through his entire system. He quickly righted himself and started throwing charged cards at the mammoth beast. They seemed to have no effect whatsoever, in fact the beast didn't even appear to notice the barricade of explosions that were erupting at all parts of his body.

Rogue had now taken to the air and circled the beast once, when she was behind him she flew directed at his back at full speed. It was like running into five hundred pounds of adamantium wall. She rebounded back and almost fell out of the air, shocked at how much it had hurt her and apparently done close to nothing to the beast. Before she could even catch her breath the creature had turned and swiped her out of the air with his pawed fist.

Rogue flew back through six office buildings before she even started to slow down enough to stop herself. Her entire body ached, something she was not used to at all. The creature had to be incredibly strong; sometimes maybe if she was caught off guard she was flung through one building, but never six! It seemed this monster had more combined strength than four hulks and the invulnerability of ten of her. Rogue felt something warm on her stomach and looked down in surprise to see herself bleeding. Three identical claw lines marked that the claws on his hand had ripped through her skin a good inch deep. Rogue's eyes widened in amazed fright and she scrambled back to the area the monster had been. It wasn't hard to find him; he left quite a trail too. Every step left a huge creator surrounding the foot and he had to lift himself out with almost every step.

Then, to Rogue's shock and dismay he bent down on his knees and sprung up about two hundred feet into the air and landed on the other side of New York City. Rogue quickly located Gambit and picked him up to follow.

"Dis no little fiend."

"Yah could say that again, Ah thought the Professor said it was a small problem."

Remy seemed to notice she was bleeding for the first time. "_Cherie! _Y're hurt!"

Rogue stomach throbbed and pulsed as if she had just been sliced in half, but she didn't want Remy to worry about her when they fought the creature so she waved him off. "It's nothing."

Remy could see she was lying, but he didn't push it. Rogue spotted their foe again and dropped Remy a foot above the ground then took to the air again. She floated around to the front of the creatures face and made a decision to go for its eyes. Before she could even start to charge forward the tail whipped up over its head and aimed directly at her at the same time in the hand grew a molten fire ball. Rogue felt a strong jolt of lightning and the molten fire collide into her at exactly the same moment. It was enough to jolt off her nervous system into a small form of epileptics for a moment and then Rogue lay on the ground taking in great breaths of air. Her blood boiled and her stomach wound hurt ten times worse, when she looked down she was shocked to find the edges of her skin around the scratches were badly burned.

_When did he get lightning and fire control? This thing is ten times stronger and more durable than anything Ah've ever seen before._

Rogue's thoughts were put to a stop as a huge padded and clawed foot rose above her to supposedly crush her stomach. Rogue barely made it out of the foot's way before it crashed down. Rogue scrambled to where Remy was and picked up a truck that was empty on the street. "Remy, charge it!"

Remy obediently charged the truck to its full capacity and Rogue threw the truck with all her might at the back of the creature's head. It collided with a sickening impact and the explosion was even harder. Rogue heard a growl which could have been either good or bad, it could mean they hurt it…or they just got it angry. Whichever the case the creature reared back with an earth-shaking roar and charged at them, Rogue picked up another car and had Remy quickly charge it, then she used her super power strength to hurtle the car at the beast's feet.

It caught the monster in mid-step and the explosion blew out his other foot from beneath it and it toppled to the ground with a resounding crash. Remy continued to throw charged rocks from the devastation and Rogue took the opportunity to fly up to him and pin his muscled arms down as she sat atop his chest.

The beast roared in fury at being held down, but Rogue held fast. She called out to Remy. "Remy! Find something to bl-" Rogue's words were cut off as the beast reared forward its hideous head and sunk one of its venomous fangs deeply into her shoulder. Rogue cried out in alarm and hurt as she back paddled away from the monster, covering her arm with her other hand.

When Rogue felt she was a safe enough distance away she removed her hand from the wound and gaped to see how deeply the fang had sliced. Her shoulder burned with renewed injury and she gasped at the pain it caused her. _How did his teeth penetrate meh at all, let alone halfway into my shoulder? Come to think of it how did his claws penetrate meh either? That shouldn't be able to happen…Why does this hurt so much?_

Rogue's questions remained unanswered and her shoulder throbbed in pain, she wiped some of the green venom off the edges of her wound and bit her bottom lip as her eyes started to water. Rogue angrily wiped the sides of her eyes and flew back into the air to try another time; what she saw stopped her clean in her tracks as she froze to the spot. Her heart skipped a beat as her breath caught in her throat. Floating in the air just ten feet above the ground, she gaped as guilt washed over her like a tidal wave. Hovering, not twenty feet away in the air, was Carol Danvers.


	2. Flight

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Carol strode down the busy street in New York City with barely a care in the world, next to her, following at a steady pace, was Wanda. Carol couldn't remember having as much fun as this before Rogue's attack. It was really great; she would have to thank Wanda later for taking the time to drag her out here. They were just about to head into a Starbucks to finish the day off when the screaming started.

They looked around in confusion to see people running every which way in a panic, Carol glanced at Wanda who held a similar frown on her face and they turned down the road everyone was running from. A few blocks down they turned a corner and both let out audible gasps at the sight that greeted them.

A huge, nightmarish creature was desolating the place into pieces. Carol had never seen anything so horrifying. On the ground they saw Gambit throwing charged rocks at the beast, but they didn't seem to have any effect. Nobody else appeared to be with Gambit.

_Figures, the only day I have some fun a monster appears to dampen the day. _Without a word both super heroines took off to their respected positions for battle. From the air, Carol could see Wanda make a hex sphere, but when it was suppose to trap the creature it just floated to him and burst with an audible pop. Carol was shocked; the hex sphere hadn't even made it to the beast, almost like the creature was protected from it._ Ok then, I'll handle this._

Carol flew towards the beast and circled it once; the beast followed her with its eyes, but didn't make a move to swipe at her just yet. When Carol came around once more she froze in midair. Her stomach dropped and her heartbeat raced as she stared in horror at the person she hated most in this universe. _Rogue._

The other girl hovered in the air, just like her and stared in shock at her too, neither of them moved and a thousand silent screams from both echoed throughout their eyes. Carol's eyes hardened hatefully and her fists clenched. Before either of them could move Rogue reared back in pain from apparently nothing and the beast clawed Carol out of the air.

Carol's landing made a creator around her and she got up to see The Scarlet Witch and Gambit helping her out. The Scarlet Witch looked shaken. "Gambit told me everything that's happened, we have to get out of here Carol and come back with more help."

"It doesn't seem like _that _much of an emergency; the three of us can take it." Gambit noted silently that she had discluded Rogue from the group, he shook his head.

"We can', it's too strong an' it has more powers dan it seems."

Wanda was nodding in agreement. "As much as we don't like it, he's right. He told me everything that's happened, it's much too powerful to fight alone Carol. A crash resounded in the building above their heads and glass and cement fell to the ground. Remy's eyes grew in concern. "Rogue!" Without another word to Wanda or Carol he took off into the building and ran up the stairs to the place where Rogue had crashed through.

Wanda looked cautiously at Carol to see her reaction, but the girl held a stone solid expression. Wanda could see untamed hatred burning in her eyes. Wanda waited a moment then motioned Carol to follow her the way Remy had gone.

When they reached the forth floor they came upon Remy holding Rogue's head gently in his lap while stroking her hair and trying to keep from crying. Rogue's eyes were fluttering shut even as she was fading. Wanda saw three identical slash marks at Rogue's stomach that had been burned over and prevented more excessive bleeding. She had a huge hole punctured into her shoulder with slightly green stuff dripping out and Remy was holding it up to keep it from bleeding. She had scratches and bruises all over her body and her right eye was swollen shut.

Remy's watery eyes met theirs. "Help, please help me. She's dyin', she needs t' get t' a hospital or somethin'." He looked directly at Carol. "Remy knows y' hate her, but would y' let her die? Y' could fly us t' de mansion in no time." Carol stiffened, she had sworn she would make Rogue pay for what she had done to her, maybe even kill her. Now Remy wanted her to fly them over to the mansion to save her life? She was crossed between her eternal hatred for the girl and the pleading sorrow in Remy's eyes. She couldn't really save the girl that had taken everything away from her…could she? Carol shook her head in spite, what a task this was. Why did all her good days have to be ruined?

Suddenly Rogue let out a gasp and her one opened eye seemed to film over, as if she were possessed. Then, in a deep voice that resembled nothing of her own, she boomed. "The end is coming, the days are final and The Indestructible One has arrived. He will awaken the guardians. The passages to the underworld will no longer be blocked." Her misted over eye somehow located all three of them at once and she spat out. "You will all perish in your quest." Then, with another small gasp she fell limply into Remy's arms.

Remy's eyes watered and a silent tear fell from one eye, without bothering to try to hide it his glistening eyes met Carol's. "Please _p'tite_, don' let Roguey die."

Carol was still reeling from the message they had just received from what seemed to be a possessed Rogue only a moment ago. Now with Remy near tears and practically begging her to save Rogue's life Carol's head was spinning. Carol hated Rogue more than anything in the world, she was the one girl that had taken away her entire being and left her emotionless, almost to die. _How could he expect that of me? _

Wanda turned to her suddenly and grabbed her hand. In a low, hushed voice she whispered. "Come on Carol, you heard what just happened. You can get your revenge on her later, she seems to know what might be going on and we need to round up the rest of the Avengers anyway."

Carol looked at Wanda in awestruck horror, she knew what she said made sense, but how could she be siding with Rogue on this? She was her partner, her teammate, not Rogue's. Carol briefly wondered if this had something to do with the time that Rogue, Logan, and Wanda had been captured by a well-known nemesis who called himself The Leader. Wanda had come back slightly changed from that and whenever Carol had gotten upset or angry about her emotions Wanda hadn't actually fully agreed with her since then…but she couldn't have actually…no. Carol put her side thoughts away and while grinding her teeth she nodded once.

Not another word was said the entire way back as Carol carried Wanda from one hand and the back of Remy's shirt with the other. Remy was tightly clinging to Rogue beneath him as if she were his only lifeline. As they flew Carol constantly ground her teeth, if there was anything worse than not getting her revenge on Rogue it was helping her. Closing her eyes in frustration Carol guided them back to the Avenger's base; it was going to be a Hell of a long day.

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In his office Professor Xavier rubbed his temples; he was contemplating what had happened to Rogue and Remy. After his connection to Rogue went dark he had searched for Remy's and found it. What he viewed from the young man's mind was horrifying, and even more questions were raised to him as it happened. If this beast was such a threat that it could take out Rogue and almost kill her, with multiple power blasts then Xavier was at a loss how he could have only sensed a small threat. It should have come up as a huge monstrosity.

What irked him yet further was that he couldn't access the creature's mind. He could barely even sense him at all, which either meant this creature had strongly enforced defenses against telepathy or it was not of this world. Xavier doubted the latter because even those from other planets he could get a fairly clear reading on and access their mind after some difficulty to explore the new species.

Which led him to believe that this creature was a very powerful beast indeed. Rogue's blows had done close to nothing, his own world known mind could not access the beasts, and the creature had nearly killed his X-Men. He hated to even think it, but the X-Men just might have found their match.

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Young was the last idea Logan would use to describe Derrick Eldan, he carefully bent over the man's shoulder and glanced over the computer screen. "What's that rubbish say? I've never seen a language like that." As a guy who had traveled much in his life Logan knew more than a few languages, this one he hadn't ever seen in his life. He had already been convinced that this trip was a waste of time when the man had started talking; it was like listening to a crazy person, which Logan was now convinced this man was very much insane. The X-Men and he had arrived earlier that afternoon to be instantly ushered into a less than inviting house. He had first been convinced that the man was some kind of crazy lunatic and now he knew that he was an old preacher crazy lunatic. They seemed to be getting nowhere with him.

Derrick's eyes were wild and bloodshot, his hair looked like it hadn't been tended to in days and he sported a good four day's worth of bristles on his face. His clothes were ragged and dirtied and he was frantic. "I'm not surprised, it's written in Old Samarian. I'm not fluent with the language, but I know enough of it to get the gist of what this was about-"

Scott raised an eyebrow. "Old Samarian?"

Kurt cut in before the old preacher could explain. "It's one of the Bible languages that they taught since before Christ. The Samaritans all branched off though and they language was said to be forgotten." He turned to the preacher with curiosity in his eyes. "How do you know the language? What does the script talk about?"

"My ancestors were Samaritans; they wrote out old scripts about the language and passed them down from generation to generation. My father taught it to me. The-"

He was once again cut off from finishing his sentence, this time by Ororo. "Didn't the Samaritans not believe in the Jewish God? How then are you a preacher of Orthodox Christianity?"

"Was, it came to be so throughout the generations. My great, great godmother converted into this faith and insisted in having me baptized the same. When I ventured into this religion it made so much more sense than my other and I was ordained as a priest."

"Why'd you quit?" Logan wasn't taking in a once of this, to him the guy was just mad.

"I retired and went to work studying about the demonics that could come out, or possessions that take hold of people. That's when I came across this, I've done multiple tests and to my dismay every one has proven that it's right. The Indestructible One is coming to break the link." Derrick looked frightened to even say it aloud, as if by some chance they could be overheard. Scott sent a glance towards Jean and telepathically spoke. _Scan his mind; we have to see if this guy is for real. Most of this stuff just seems like old Bible predictions to me._

Logan joined his telepathic conversation. _I'll say, this sounds like a buncha rubbish to me._

_I hate to vay it because ve man seems very nice, but I've never read about vis ving he's valking about in ve Bible. It speaks of ve end of days, but not vis creature ving._

_He seems sincerely concerned though…_Storm couldn't help but feel bad for the retired old preacher. If he had found this in his studies and was truly being tortured over the notion that something might happen she felt they should try to do something.

Jean was silent for a few moments while this telepathic discussion went on and then suddenly opened her eyes as if seeing the room for the first time. She stared in wonder at Derrick Eldan. _I've scanned his mind and he truly believes what he says. I went a little deeper and this man has been getting visions, they're horrifying. He might actually be right…_

The Professor's voice echoed into their minds and they all listened carefully, he sounded tired. _X-Men, as strange as it sounds he's right. I sent Rogue and Remy on a mission that only seemed small, but the beast he described and everything you gathered from his mind is correct. _

Logan's protective instics kicked in immediately. _Is Rogue ok?_

There was a short pause in which the Professor didn't respond. When he did he sounded resigned. _She was knocked out and took a various amount of injuries. Two of the Avengers came to the scene and are helping her and Remy back to their base._

_Who picked her up?_

Again a pause followed and then. _Carol Danvers and Wanda Maximoff found them._

A silence followed that in which none of the X-Men felt like conversing, all thinking of what could become of Rogue in Carol's hands, but then Storm broke the silence. _What do we do with Derrick then?_

_Take him with you, and come back to New York. Try to meet up with Rogue and Remy and figure out where to go from there. If this creature is truly the same as Mr. Eldan thinks then we have to stop it at all costs._

The link to the Professor was cut off and Jean turned to Derrick. "Derrick?"

The man glanced up at her from his computer screen and layout of scrolls. "Yes?"

"We think The Indestructible One has arrived." It took the man no further convincing to pack up his stuff and board the _blackbird. _Jean sighed deeply and put her head in her hands, it was going to be a very long day.

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Bobby Drake had just entered the X-Mansion with Kitty Pryde when he heard a familiar voice ring throughout his mind. _Bobby I would like to see you and Kitty for a moment please. _

He opened his mouth to speak to Kitty, but she nodded too. They traveled through the foyer and down one of the chestnut polished hallways down to the Professor's office. When they got there they were also greeted by the blue fuzzy form of Hank.

"Hey Hank. Hello Professor,"

"Good day Bobby," Hank greeted cheerfully, he was happy about something at least. Kitty looked questioningly at the Professor.

"You needed us?"

The Professor's hands folded out of habit across his lap as he began. "If it's not too much trouble I need you three to travel to the Avenger's mansion. Rogue and Remy are being taken there right now and the rest of the X-Men are following in the jet."

"Is there something wrong?" Bobby inquired questioningly.

The Professor's head dipped into a small nod. "Yes, quite so I'm afraid. It looks like we have a new threat on our hands." For the next ten minutes the Professor explained to Kitty, Hank, and Bobby what had arisen and what they knew so far. He projected an image of the creature into their minds and told them everything he knew. By the time he was done they were already heading out the door to help, anxious to help the rest of the X-Men with the new query.

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_First off, I've never read the comics so I'm sorry if the accents are incorrect. I know that all the X-Men in comicverse are all over the place and there isn't like one single X-Mansion, but I'm just going to use the characters that I want for this story. And other than Rogue's attack I know nothing about the real Carol Danvers so excuse me if she's out of character. Also, I have absolutely no idea what the Avenger's place looks like and helpful hints are welcome with that. I have limited knowledge of some Avengers too so I probably will only be using them, if you like to drop some hints or someone else from the Avengers I'll see what I could do to add them. Hope you enjoy the story and aren't too disappointed if the characters are out of swing._


	3. Preacher's Words

_She knew. The other would die, she knew and she panicked. Her newfound brother was going to die, and with him died the hopes of resurrecting her master. It was only him that stopped her from total loss. He promised to her a new pathway, one they could do without the brother's help. She was elated by the offer._

_He sent her a vision then, a vision of vile evil. Flames that licked up higher than she was tall surrounded her, but she didn't feel any pain. All around her bodies were splayed out in dysfunctional positions, some of them not even connected. She licked her lips in anticipation._

_But then a voice whispered softly into her ear and she stopped herself before she could feast upon the wreckage. She knew the voice was right. She had to do his bidding, he was her master. For now, he was just a spirit, a powerful entity that had no place to lodge, but she knew how to change that. She closed her eyes and let his being wash over her, encompassing her, controlling her. He was so powerful, so much stronger than even her increased strength. She wanted that power, needed it. It was calling to her and she yearned for it to enter her, to invade her. But then he left, and with him left the power she had just possessed moments ago._

_An animalistic rage stirred in her, such fury present she knew she couldn't control it. She knew that anything that got in her way would be devoured. She had to release them, to release him, but she needed the sacrifices first. She needed more sacrifices to feed the portal that would open; she needed them to feed the dreadful guardians, the blood had to be pure. Her already black eyes hardened and she went on searching. He would lead her to the gate. The feeling inside her, the voice that whispered into her ear, the deep voice always led her to the right place. It was all him and he was never wrong._

_She had to complete her duty, and then he would reward her. He would become her, melding into her pitiful body and make her strong and fierce. He would make her the warrior champion that he was; the evil would crawl over her and seep into her body. She needed him, and his voice left her a small promise that he would come for her. He would come for her…that's all she needed to know._

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Rogue let out a gasp of fright as she opened her eyes from the terrible nightmare she had been having. She lay still for a time, taking in huge breaths of air and releasing them slowly. Rogue stiffened from thoughts of her nightmare. _What the Hell was all that about?_

Rogue lay still for a moment longer while thinking about where she was, then her memories crashed back into her mind and her eyes snapped open again. She looked at her shoulder that had previously had a good three inch hole torn through it. Her shoulder was fine, she experimentally waved her arm and held it up, it felt as good as new. Rogue then proceeded to sit up and put a hand over her stomach, the three scratches that had been raked across her midriff weren't there either. Rogue blinked as if she were hallucinating and checked again, nothing had changed. She didn't even have any scar marks to show for what had happened.

Rogue threw her legs over the side of the bed she had been laid upon; on a spot near the pillow was a large bloodstain. Rogue stared at the bloodstain for a full two minutes before extracting herself from the bed. _What is going on? Not that Ah'm complaining, but shouldn't Ah be bleedin' ta death?_

A noise from outside, followed by the opening door jolted her out of her thoughts and into the present. Two figures entered the door opposite her; she recognized the first one simply by his outline. "Remy!" She ran over to Remy who already had his hands outstretched and the two shared a comfortable hug. Still with her head buried into his shoulder she asked. "How did we get ta the Avenger's place?"

Remy rubbed her back comfortingly when he replied, "Carol flew us here t' heal,"

"She saved mah life?" Rogue brought her head up from his shoulder to look into his eyes, Remy gasped.

"_Chere,_ your eyes!" He didn't sound frightened, just stunned. Rogue's face creased in confusion.

"What's wrong with mah eyes?"

Following him, Captain America took a step back as he saw her demonic eyes. "Whoa, Rogue…"

Rogue, now getting frantic, asked. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Remy turned her around and steered her into the adjoining bathroom that connected to the bedroom she was in. He positioned himself behind her and faced her towards the mirror. Rogue looked into the mirror and screamed. She took two steps back until she bumped into Remy. "Oh mah God, mah eyes! What's happenin' ta meh?" Staring back at her from the mirror were two entirely black eyes, they were the same eyes of the creature.

Remy brought his arm around the panicking girl's waist and put his other hand on her shoulder. "Don' panic _cherie,_ y' jus' fine. Nothin's wrong wit' y'."

Rogue was beyond listening at this point. "No! No! It all makes sense now! Why Ah healed, how Ah got its eyes, the nightmare! Ah'm possessed!" She proceeded to cover her head with her hands and crouched down low, as if she found the floor newly fascinating.

Remy laughed and put his gloved hand over his girlfriend's mouth. Standing her up and turning her around so she was facing him he shook her gently as if mimicking bringing sense back to her. "_P'tite,_ calm yourself! Dere be nothin' wrong wit' y'. Y' jus' need to take a breath."

Captain America appeared behind Remy as he was calming her down and smiled. "Can we go into the other room with everyone else now?"

Rogue looked back at the mirror before following Remy's tugging hand. A million questions and fears ran through her mind before Captain America started to speak. "We have two theories on your healing; it may have come from a leftover time that you've absorbed Wolverine. That'd be completely natural; we figure your body was in so much pain that it automatically triggered you to heal yourself because you were in danger of dying. Speaking of which, you're very lucky you were struck with that fireball, it immediately cauterized your stomach wound and stopped your bleeding. You could have bled to death."

Rogue had calmed herself enough to talk now, but she still trembled slightly as she spoke. She had been an inch away from death twice today and only by unusual miracles was she still breathing. It was enough to make her shaken. "What's your other theory?"

Captain America hesitated a moment before he continued, enough to hint to Rogue that he was worried about this one. "When you were bitten some of the creature's venom was pushed into your bloodstream. It had traveled through your veins before we could do anything about it and the wound healed over it. You could have received the creature's ability to heal itself. That might explain your black eyes too."

Rogue felt a flash of anger rage through her and the words were out of her mouth before she could even control them. "It's a he."

Captain America paused. "Excuse me?"

As soon as the anger was there it disappeared again, Rogue felt foolish for her outburst and bit her lower lip in confusion. She didn't even know where that had come from, how was she supposed to know that creature was a he? "Nothing, never mind. Do you know how long Ah'll have his eyes or healing?" There it was again. _His. _Rogue shook herself inwardly; she needed to get a grip.

Captain America shrugged, not noticing her distress. "That's anyone's guess really. Although we couldn't remove the venom, it seems to have no other effect on you than your eyes and maybe the healing."

That didn't sound right to Rogue, why would that beast bite her if all the venom did was cure her? She was sure it had to have done something else to her. Rogue's previous dream loomed into her mind and she stopped walking. "Why would he bite meh if it only cured meh?"_ He, he, he. No he's an it, not he._

Captain America shrugged. "Maybe your mutation absorbed from the venom an ability of his, we can't be sure. Maybe it wasn't even venom at all, like I said we didn't get to take a sample or test it. It could have been discolored saliva."

Rogue doubted that sincerely, she was sure something had happened to her when it bit her. Why else would she have felt that fiery burst of heat that ran through her system when she had froze to look at Carol? It had to have done something more to her. "But what about mah dream?" Rogue was being persistent and she knew that, but she was frightened of what other effects could happen to her without her even knowing.

"Dream?" Remy stopped with her and held her gloved hand tightly in his. His reassuring squeezes helped her calm down a fraction. It would have been looked over by other couples, just holding hands, but to Rogue it meant so much more. She smiled appreciatively at him and opened her mouth to tell them about her nightmarish dream.

Before Rogue could explain about her horrifying nightmare she was cut off by Captain America. "Wait till' everyone is here, the X-Men should arrive soon and Xavier sent Kitty, Bobby and Beast our way too. For now we need to gather and wait for them to plan our next move."

They started their way back down the corridor when Remy glanced curiously at her. "So _cherie,_ what happened t' y' after y' crashed through da buildin'."

Rogue blinked, confused by his question she responded. "Ah don't know, Ah was unconscious."

Remy shook his head. "_Non,_ before dat. When y' went all glassy-eyed an' said somet'ing about de Indestructible One?"

Rogue's brow creased as she tried to recall that. The Indestructible One…it sounded so familiar, she knew all about whom that was somewhere deeply hidden in the back of her mind…why couldn't she remember? "Ah don't recall talkin' about an Indestructible One…Ah jus' remember falling unconscious in ya'r arms."

Remy frowned. "Y' don' remember anyt'ing after dat?"

Rogue shook her head and Remy's frown deepened. Rogue was about to ask what she had said when they reached their destination at the other end of the Mansion. In the foyer were what seemed to be the whole group of Avengers. Rogue immediately recognized Wanda lounging on the couch next to a white haired boy that must have been her brother Pietro. They sat with their eyes glued to the television; on it was a display of the chaos the creature had created. Rogue removed her gaze to stare at the opposite door in which the vision stood transparently in the doorway and was gazing absently at the back of Wanda's head, as if finding it fascinating. Rogue cringed inwardly, she knew all about the situation with Vision from Wanda's memories and thoughts. _Poor girl, she has it as bad as meh._

Rogue's gaze traveled from Vision to the left-hand corner of the room where Carol Danvers leaned against the wall avoiding her gaze at all costs. She was idly looking from the floor to the ceiling and back to the floor again, anything to escape looking at Rogue. _She'll nevar forgive meh, not that Ah blame her fohr it. She saved mah life…That must be eating her up. Ah should say somethin' ta her…_

Captain America passed them as he entered the room and took the third seat on the couch beside Pietro. He firmly fixed his attention to the television and listened to the announcer's voice. "Pete, this is incredible, have you ever seen anything like this in your life?"

"It's so violent Max, two people were already killed by this thing and it seems to have an unerring destination. It keeps heading down…" Rogue closed out the announcer's voice as she walked up in front of Carol. Carol didn't acknowledge her until she spoke.

"Hey, um thanks…" Carol's gaze lifted to meet her own, she didn't show any sign of warmth. "Fohr saving mah life by bringin' meh here." Rogue shifted uncomfortably under Carol's toxic gaze, she felt Carol's eyes follow her movements and abruptly forced herself to stop.

"Yeh, well, don't expect it ta happen again." Without another word Carol left her corner and moved across the room again to place as much distance between Rogue and herself as possible. Rogue sighed in defeat when she felt a hand placed on her shoulder. She looked over her shoulder to see the welcome face of Remy reassuring her.

"Don' worry abou' de _fille_, y' not t' blame for dose past mistakes."

"Thanks Remy, but Ah do have ta make up for those mistakes. It is mah fault ya know…"

"_Non, _Rogue y'r perfect."

She punched him playfully as a smile graced the edges of her mouth. "Only ta you sugar." Her smile grew as he wrapped his arms around her back and pressed her back against the wall.

Remy gave her one of his award winning grins that he saved just for her. "Well can y' help it? Dis sexy thief is jus' so damned irresistible." Their faces were now only inches apart and Rogue could feel the warmth of his breath and the heat of his body pressed against hers. She loved this man, he knew it and she knew it, they shared so much and Rogue needed him as much as he needed her.

"Is that so?" Rogue challenged him, Remy grinned widely at her again.

"_Oui,_ an' Remy knows y' know it. He de mos' irresistible _homme_ dat Rogue knows."

"He's certainly the cockiest _homme_ that Ah know." Remy chuckled good-naturedly. He moved so that he was even closer to Rogue than before and both of them drew together for a kiss, momentarily forgetting everything around them. A millisecond before their lips touched Captain America's voice rang out and halted them.

"The X-Men have arrived!"

With the moment ruined Rogue's life came crashing back to her and she pulled away from Remy's warmth with a sigh. His hand lingered in her own and she was glad that she still got to hold a part of him with her. Almost immediately after Captain America's yell Logan showed up in the doorway that Vision was near and sighted her. "Rogue!" He moved his way past Vision and scrambled up to her as if making sure it was really her. He saw that she had no apparent injuries and asked confusedly. "Are you ok? The Professor said that you were hurt an-" He stopped as he saw for the first time her newly colored black eyes. "Whoa! What happened Stripes?"

"That's what Ah'd like ta know." The rest of the X-Men filed in behind Logan and filled the room. Logan moved to her other side so the rest of the team could get a good look at her, Jean and Kitty gasped audibly, but the rest of the team managed to hold back their shock.

"What happened to you!" Kitty asked loudly, she had never been one for tack.

Rogue shrugged, but before she had to answer anything she didn't know Captain America filled in the X-Men on what they supposed had happened and every detail he knew of the fight that he must have gotten from Remy and Carol.

Before any topic of their upcoming plans could be discussed an old man entered the room behind the X-Men and the Avengers. He glanced around at everyone in the room, but when his eyes fell on Rogue they stayed fixed to the spot and grew in fear. "She's been tainted!" He backed away till his back hit the doorframe; the X-Men glanced at him in wonder.

Rogue was the first one to break the silence. "Who's he?"

Logan grunted and nudged her softly; his words were just loud enough so she could hear. "He's some nutty preacher guy, don't pay attention to him."

Storm stood up and made formal introductions. "Rogue, this is Derrick Eldan. He seemed to know some things about the creature you and Remy fought. Derrick, this is Rogue."

Rogue held out her hand to greet the old man, but he shrunk away from her extended hand as if she had some kind of dire contagious disease. Rogue slowly lowered her hand back down and stepped back to her previous corner with a slightly hurt befuddled look upon her face as Derrick continued to cringe on the opposite wall. Storm walked over to him. "What's wrong Mr. Eldan?"

Derrick pointed a shaking finger in Rogue's direction and accused her. "She's poisoned; she won't be the same person you know…"

Scott made a face. "What do you mean 'she's poisoned'? She-"

He was cut off when Derrick answered in a hushed whisper, as if in fear that they'd be overheard. "No, you don't get it. She's been bitten; she'll now become a servant of the Unholy One."

Logan had about enough of the old man's garbage, he saw that the words were hurting Rogue and blurted out. "Are ya trying to start something bub? What the Hell is servant of the Unholy One supposed to mean?"

Derricks answer was so silent that Logan would not have been able to hear it if he hadn't had advanced senses. "It means." He took a gulp as ifphysically saying it broght him pain. "The spirit of Lucifer is going to possess her."

Logan raised an eyebrow uncomprehendingly. "Lucifer?"

It was Kurt who answered this time, and he looked at his sister in fear of the old preacher's words. "Ze First Fallen Angel, Lucifer," He glanced at Logan. "He means ze Devil; he's saying vat she's going to ve possessed vy ze Devil."


	4. Visions

_Thanks to all my reviewers, you keep me going and make me update faster-truly, you guys are my motovation. Hope you enjoy the new chapter and don't worry 'kus there's much more ta go._

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Rogue's head made a dull thunk as it fell against the solid interior wall of the _Blackbird_. It was just all too much for her to handle, there was a point in a girl's life when she just couldn't take any more negatives and Rogue had already exceeded that point ten times over. Today had just pushed her even further over that edge, she rubbed her temples with her fingers in order to sooth the pain that had been building up in her mind, it wasn't working.

After the awkward silence following Derrick's words, they had decided to split up into two different groups. Team A, compromising of Captain America, Vision, Pietro, Carol, Derrick, Ororo, Jean, Kitty, Kurt, and Remy went off to try to stop the creature that seemed to be following a certain trail that was still unknown to them in the Avenger's jet. While team B, which held Logan, Scott, Bobby, Wanda, Beast, and her were track backing to the gothic style shop that the beast had leapt out of. Rogue was sure it hadn't been a coincidence and they could discover something useful at the place.

Sinking her head down onto her knees, Rogue was barely aware of the person who came and sat next to her. It was only when he spoke up did Rogue lift her head slightly to listen. "Don't worry about it kid, that guy was crazy."

"That would be a lot more reassurin' ta meh if Ah knew it ta be true." Rogue sighed as she lifted her head back up and again tilted it against the wall. "You saw the look in that guy's eyes when he saw meh, he was petrified."

Logan frowned, thinking back to that incident and Derrick's face the old man looked as if he might have had a heart attack. "Come on kid, you're not gunna be possessed by the Lucifer, or that Fallen Thingamajig…whatever, the devil's not gunna possess ya. Ya shouldn't worry about that rubbish he said. He's just a crazy old preacher whose age caught up with his mind."

Rogue shook her head in dismay. "It's not just that. I keep runnin' over and over through mah mind and-I just can't figure it out Logan. How'd Ah heal? What was the venom supposed ta do anyway? The thing wouldn't have bit meh if it just ending up curing meh. An-And why do Ah still have these eyes? Ah can't figure it out."

Logan shrugged. "The healing could have been leftover from me, like the Vision deducted; your body just could have felt too close and triggered it off."

"Ah just get this…this feelin' that that's not it."

Logan bit his lower lip in exasperation. Trying to cheer her up he went a different rout. "Well maybe we'll get some answers from this shop the thing jumped outa of. It's just gunna be like a regular old mission, when all this is done you'll be jokin' about it."

Rogue highly doubted that and Logan knew she did as well as he knew he did, but it was an attempt. Rogue's mouth twisted into an 'it's alright' half smile. "Ah guess whatever ya know. Ah just wish this mission was done with already."

Logan nudged her. "It will be, don't worry. That thing might have been a match for you and Remy, but it'll be nothin' against half the X-Men and the Avengers. These do-gooders never lose ey?"

Rogue graced him with a small smile. "Ah suppose your right, an' when this is all done Ah'll have Remy ta entertain meh fohr awhile now that he's back."

Logan grunted. "Now that's somethin' I don't wanna hear about, I'm done here." Rogue's smile grew as Logan lifted himself from the floor beside her and walked back up to the pilot's room. Rogue felt marginally better from Logan's words, he could always help her cheer up a bit. Standing herself, she strapped down lightly into one of the seats and leaned it back for a little rest. Before her eyes were even fully shut she was in a vast sleep that was not entirely natural, and in that sleep she was drowned away by dreams.

--------

_A hand was gently placed on her shoulder, she turned to see The Scarlet Witch, Wanda, calming her and seeing if she was ok…_

_Flash_

_In Greece on one of the many islands, this one more known than others, Santorini was feeling like a hot desert. On the Red Beach at the South end of the island the X-Men and Avengers gathered around a cave in the rock cliff overshadowing the beach. They had climbed the rocky ledges downward and wove their way through to finally reach this end and knew what lie inside. The poor couple who lived here must have been taken prisoners along with the others, trapped…_

_Flash_

_It was the most awful thing she had ever seen. Blood dripped from its white polished marble steps. A circle enclosed the two dark eyes. The eyes that were now her own._

_Flash_

_Following her partners into the hidden basement her breath caught in her throat at what she saw. Bodies were hung around the basement from ropes that were attached to the ceiling. A demonic ceremonial alter stood at the far end of the basement, the bodies all lined in rows up to the alter. It was all black and red; the red was sticky and wet. Blood. Young boys and girls all the way up the line to old grandparents, their eyes stared on forever lifelessly. They seemed to all be looking directly at the approaching group. Her eyes watered at the sight of the massacre. When they were halfway to the alter the others materialized out of the darkness like shadows that had been waiting. Waiting for them to be halfway through, waiting to trap them in the center… _

_Flash_

_His hand reached out-attempting to grasp her own, so close, so close the fingers brushed and then…_

_Flash_

_Surrounded and unable to move, unable to call out, unable to warn her friends. She was trapped and she knew what was coming, she feared it. She didn't want such evil to even touch her, but he would not only feel her, he would invade her. Become her. She would be washed away, lost to the world in his mind. She could feel him in the air around them, suddenly the people around her, the sacrifices cried out in anguish and she knew it was happening, there was nothing she could do to stop it…_

_Flash_

_She couldn't control him, she couldn't stop him. She was useless, his body tool that he used as he pleased, and there was absolutely nothing she could do. Nothing, nothing, nothing…_

_Flash_

_Glowing black eyes, satanic, demonic, unfriendly glared out from the light and seemed to dampen everything around them. The sun itself seemed to dim in the darkness of the eyes, as if they had covered it and were swallowing the world whole…_

_Flash_

_The X-Men were gathered on the streets, ruble lay everywhere from the destruction of the creature. They fought it fiercely, but their attacks seemed to be having little to no progress. Things were not going well. The beast swatted Carol out of the air again and through several more buildings, now it was just getting annoyed at this distraction. Looking to his left where explosions were rocking him, the creature picked up a chunk of the building it was next to, everyone else was occupied. He couldn't stop it from coming; he had no time to get out of the way. The cement block came rushing with no way of stopping; it crushed him whole and he was lost to the world._

"REMY! NO! YOU CAN'T LEA-" Rogue's breath caught in her throat as a sob was forced out, tears streamed down the side of her face, but she paid them no heed. Rogue stood straight up so fast that the seatbelt around her broke and fell limply to the sides of her seat. She gasped for breath as if she had just run a marathon and it took her a moment to recognize where she was. The _Blackbird_ loomed around her like an enclosing monster; Rogue put a hand to her chest as the air from her lungs was forced out with each labored breath.

A hand was gently placed on her shoulder, she turned to see The Scarlet Witch, Wanda, calming her and seeing if she was ok. Rogue's memory flashed back to her nightmares and she took a step back from Wanda in renowned fear.

"That happened! Exactly that! It all happened, just the way you just did right now, Ah saw it!"

Scott remained steering the jet but by this time Logan, Bobby, and Hank had all crowded around behind Wanda who was doing her best to discover what had scared Rogue so badly. "Rogue, what's wrong? What happened? What did you see?"

Rogue's wild eyes located Wanda's and shakily she pointed to her hand. "Ah-Ah just saw it happen in mah dream, flashes of different times, but Ah saw you touch mah shoulder and try ta comfort meh when Ah dreamed it."

"Do you mean like de ja vui?"

Rogue shook her head harshly, "No, no it wasn't de ja vui. They were like-flashes, visions, premonitions maybe. Ah-Ah-"

Wanda tried to piece this together. "What did you see in these flashes? What scared you this badly?"

"Ah," Rogue swallowed thickly and closed her eyes in pain of the memory. "Ah saw Remy die."

--------

"Is dat de best y' got _homme_?" Remy gave his trademark smirk at the frustrated speedster and grabbed his cards to deal again. From his left Vision stared at him with a blank impassionate face. "What's up wit' y'?" He asked the stone faced android.

In just as impassionate tone that matched perfectly with his face, Vision replied. "Mr. LeBeau, there is a 98.759 percent chance that you are cheating. To win the last forty rounds in a row is enough in itself, but in having Royal cards every time has remarkably increased the odds. I do doubt it myself that you could accomplish such a feat with only 1.351 percent chance of continuing on this record."

Pietro's face got red as he realized he had been cheated upon. "Hey I want my money back you low grade thief!"

Remy chuckled colorfully. "Remy may be a sexy t'ief, but he didn' cheat at de card game. He just be lucky."

Pietro's eyes narrowed. "Lucky my ass, you dirty Cajun! You're a damn liar!"

Remy was still enjoying himself, he winked at the infuriated speedy. "An' what is de speedy stick gunna do 'bout it?"

Before anyone could blink Pietro super sped himself to the Cajun and tackled him, forcibly knocking him to the ground, then he reached inside the cocky thief's coat and pulled out a wad of bills the Cajun had taken from him. In less than a second he was seated at the other side of the plane, counting his money, and grumbling under his breath.

"Hey!" Remy picked up a few of the cards that had scattered over the floor when he was tackled and charged them. Aiming them down the center isle he flung them at Pietro who had no room to move to the side and only ducked down at the last moment before they exploded above his head. Remy picked up two more cards as he slid his way to the back of the plane, but was stopped from charging them only a couple of feet away from Pietro by an iron clasped grip on his shoulders.

Remy turned his head to the side to see Carol holding him back and pulling him away from the speed demon. "Don't be such guys all the time; you could end up exploding the plane."

"But _p'tite,_ dat boy gots Remy's winnin's." Remy tried to squiggle out of her grip, but he knew it was useless. He was all too familiar with Rogue's iron clasp grip when she pulled him away.

"Winnings that you cheated to get."

Remy grinned. "But still won dem." Carol pushed the grinning thief into a seat and walked back to the front of the plane without another word to him. _Dat fille is determined not t' like Remy, she really hates Rogue heh? Remy almost afraid she wouldn't save de girl's life back dere. We'll have t' work on dat hatred t' my bella woman when dis is all done._

Remy turned to his right just in time to see Ororo sit down in the seat next to him. "Hey Stormy, lon' time no see."

Ororo shook her head. "How many times have I told you about callin' me Stormy?"

Remy wore an innocent look. "Not enough apparently."

Storm's smile threw off her crossed eyebrows. "Apparently. How was it down at The Big Easy? You must have gotten back just in time for the Professor to start you on this next mission."

"What can Remy say? He be a master o' timin'."

"When all this is done, maybe you and Rogue should take a vacation for awhile. She missed you while you were away." Remy knew Storm only looked out for the best things for him; it was one of the things he liked most about the woman.

"It's har' not t' miss da sexiest t'ief in de world. Dink how much trouble dat'd be." Storm laughed, Remy was so confident and cocky at times. "But dat would be nice, all good ideas Stormy. Have t' ask de Professor when dis is done wit'."

"You should, it would mean a lot to Rogue to-" Storm was interrupted by Jean's voice as the woman leaned over the two.

"Remy watch yourself in the battle today, Rogue's worried about you." Jean didn't want to tell Remy about what she saw in the horrified girl's mind. She would be extra careful to keep an eye out for him, although it could have just been coincidental the way Wanda had touched her shoulder the same way, it crept Jean out. After being given permission, she had struggingly entered her teammate's mind. All the images there had been terrifying, she couldn't find the source from which they were coming either, although she could guess at that.

What caused her the most unease was the feeling she got when she entered her teammate's mind. It was like a slimy black hand that gripped her hand, trying to remove her from Rogue's mind. It wasn't one of the other personalities in Rogue's head; Jean had too much experience with them to know that they weren't the cause. This was almost like…violation, the feeling of trespassing or going somewhere she knew she wasn't supposed to. It was almost as if she was being shunned out of Rogue's mind, as if her presence there wasn't welcome. As if…As if someone else was watching not only her, but Rogue too and had an agenda of their own.

Jean was called back to earth by the sound of Remy's chuckle as he spoke up. "Not even fighting yet and my _cherie's_ concerned fohr me. Dat's jus' like her, she really knows how t' warm a Cajun's heart."

Jean hoped concern was really only the problem they would face today, but further down she knew she was wrong, she knew that she was very, very wrong.


	5. The Voice

_A/N: Sorry for delay, school's started and backed me up a bit._

Remy bit his bottom lip in frustration. He kept getting this feeling that Rogue was in more danger than he was, even though she had gone on the safer avenue to just check out the store he had a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach that she was in much more trouble than he was. When it came to Rogue, that gut feeling was rarely ever wrong.

Remy watched as X-Men and Avengers alike existed the Avenger's jet with dread in his heart. Something was wrong, and he felt he should have known what it was. He was deeply regretting letting Rogue go without him. Unable to shake the feeling, he came back to reality as he viewed Derrick following the teams of heroes. Before the old preacher could cross to the door, Remy held out his hand. "Don't t'ink so _homme_, dis isn't y' fight. Y' stay here."

Derrick looked into Remy's eyes and Remy was surprised the man didn't flinch. He had certainly been frightened enough when he saw Rogue's eyes and Remy imagined his own would seem even more dark, but the old man just looked into his eyes unflinchingly and spoke. "I have to go, you can't stop me."

"Want t' bet on dat?"

Derrick's eyes hardened with a sense of urgency that Remy had seen when he fearfully prophesied to Rogue. "You don't understand. Things are unfolding; these events have been predicted from times past. I cannot allow the creature to die."

Remy stepped back in shock and eyed the man fiercely. "What's dat mean? We're here t' kill de damn t'ing. Y' not on de same page grandpa."

The man didn't even glower at the insult; he merely stepped forward again, nearer to the hatch. "If the creature dies, she is the next in line."

Remy's eyes hardened and he stopped the preacher's progression to the door by picking him up by the front of his shirt, cleanly lifting Derrick off the ground he glowered at him. "Y' not tellin' us somet'ing gramps? What y' hiding?" As if to empathize his point he shook Derrick fiercely. To his credit, Derrick didn't flinch.

"I'm not hiding anything, its simple fact that if the creature is defeated then his Chosen will become the next carrier."

"Carrier?" Remy still didn't let the man down, too absorbed was he in his words.

"Of the Dark Prince. If the creature dies, your friend will be the one who is possessed by the Most High Evil. It's unavoidable, which is why I am here to make sure you don't kill it."

His shirt slipped through Remy's fingers as Remy tried to absorb this new information, weakly now, as if begging to be wrong he asked. "So if de creature dies, Rogue immediately ge's possessed?" A week ago he would have scoffed at the idea of possession, but he had seen Rogue's pain and heard her cry to him about her nightmare. He would almost believe anything at this point.

Derrick shook his head. "No, only a willing Chosen One who will give up their soul can be possessed by the Dark Lord."

Remy growled at him, suddenly annoyed. "Rogue would never give up her soul. Derse nothin' to worry about. We jus' kill de t'ing and be done wit' it fohr good."

Derrick's eyes flashed dangerously. "Under the right circumstances, anything could happen. I will not allow the creature to be killed."

"Y' don't have a choice in de matter _homme, _de t'ing has t' die" With that, Remy jumped out of the jet and slammed the door behind him which auto-lock clicked from the inside and out. Derrick was left to be stuck inside.

---------

_Rogue…_

Rogue looked around her in confusion, who was calling her? The cabin of the _Blackbird_ remained silent and still behind her, looking in front of her Rogue saw that her teammates had already existed the jet. None of them had spoken.

"Who-" The voice echoed throughout her mind again before she could even get the question off her lips.

_We are your destiny Rogue, you cannot avoid us. This will be much easier on you if you just obey._

Rogue looked around her in a close panic, something was wrong. Who was talking to her? What did they mean her destiny? What did they want from her? As if the voice had heard her thoughts, it spoke again.

_Stop looking around you child, for now we are mere voices in your mind. You will only see us when the time is right. _

Rogue bit her lower lip in frustration. "When the time is right for what?"

_When you give us your soul._

Rogue opened her mouth, perhaps in a silent gasp, or perhaps to say something back to the mysterious, haunted voice in her mind. But before it could be decided which she was doing, Wanda's voice rang out from the distance down the street. "You coming or not Rogue? Come on; let's get a move on here!"

Rogue obediently flew out of the jet and caught up with her companions. Wanda was waiting a little further down the road from the others, waiting for her to catch up. Rogue landed smoothly besides her, but her attention was elsewhere. "What held you up?"

_You don't want her to know._

Rogue desperately wanted to tell Wanda all about the voice ringing through her mind, but as she opened her mouth and the words began to pour out they were not what she wanted to say. It was as if another force were guiding her words, as hard as she tried, she could not explain to Wanda what really was going on. "Ah was jus' tidying up the jet, makin' sure no one finds it ya know." The lie slipped out naturally, completely unaltered as if she had practiced lying all her life.

"Oh, well ok. Beast wanted to talk with you." She must have seen something troubling Rogue with her side-glance because she slowed down and frowned. "You alright?"

_Yes._

"Yeah, Ah'm fine, why?"

"You just look…bothered? I don't know, never mind." Beast had caught up to them and Wanda maneuvered her way out of their conversation. When she was out of hearing distance, Beast spoke. "Rogue what happened back in the jet? You weren't having more visions were you?"

Another chance to tell somebody, she could tell Hank. He was one of the X-Men, before she had just not wanted Wanda to know…it must have been an unconscious decision on her part. Rogue worked her mouth open, but froze as the first word came out. "No-" She shifted her jaw uncomfortably a few times before she lost control of her mouth's movement again. As hard as she attempted to force the truth out, she was powerless to the workings of her mouth. "Nothing happened, Ah was just fixin' up the jet, makin' sure it was hidden well."

Hank looked at her skeptically; he didn't believe a word of it. Not after a hesitation like that. "You sure?"

_No! No Ah'm not sure, and Ah don't know why Ah can't tell you but its scaring meh and Ah just want ta tell ya what-_

"Yeah, Ah'm sure." Hank didn't believe her and Rogue knew it, but he let it drop for then so she didn't mind. He would ask later she knew, but next time he wouldn't catch her off guard like he had. The building loomed before them.

_Come._

Rogue drew in a bated that she didn't know she had been holding. They were here, before the small gothic shop that could answer all of their questions, but Rogue wasn't simply afraid of what they might learn, she was afraid of what she might already have seen. If her visions were the same…

Rogue felt a hand placed gently on her shoulder and reflexively flinched away, she turned around to stare into the warm, comforting face of Bobby Drake. "Hey," He tried to calm her, her face relaxed a little at the sight of him, but Bobby could see through her eyes that she was scared beyond her wits. "Don't worry Rogue, nothing's gunna go wrong. You'll see, no one's gunna get hurt."

_Give me what I want._

Rogue swallowed visibly and nodded unconvincingly to Bobby. They both knew she still wasn't alright, but Bobby didn't push her. Rogue was being reserved again, and it took a sledgehammer to break through to her when she wanted. It was neither the time nor place for him to proceed trying to calm her.

Rogue followed Logan into the small shop and opened her mouth in a silent gasp as she stared around her. The small shop front outside was certainly a deception to passerby people. The place was huge, from all around the ceiling hung articles of black robes with red slashes across the fronts and backs of them, symbols that made no sense to any of them. Rogue's memory flashed. _**His body was covered in arcane symbols of unrecognizable importance, those symbols were everything**…_Rogue shook her head and looked down and away from the dark garbs, she knew nothing more about them than any of the other X-Men. And yet…

"Not much for style are they?" Logan's gaze remained transfixed to the clothing hanging from the ceiling; Wanda shook her head in wonder.

"Not your typical gothic centric shop."

To distract herself from returning her gaze to the robes, Rogue glanced around the shop. Dark articles covered the entire shop, and Rogue was about to tear her gaze away to look at the floor when the back wall caught her attention. Her eyes centered on a small dusty bridge in the woodwork, where the edge of the wood should be.

_Yes, follow the path. Come to us._

Bobby followed her eyes and saw nothing unusual that they hadn't already seen in this shop. "What's got your attention?"

Rogue neither heard his words, nor the words of any other of her teammates as she ran up to the wall in horror. Driven by her unseen voices she began to ry her fingers into the crack, Rogue exerted more strength than necessary and tore the wood away from the wall. As she savagely tore the wall apart, a hole appeared. Taking the new avenue, Rogue ripped apart the wall from that area around all the way down to her feet. Stone steps led downward into black darkness.

_Step down._

In the back of her mind, her worried companions' voices barely registered. "Whoa Strips, how'd you find that?"

Wanda was looking over her shoulder in shock. "What the-" Rogue cut her off by clasping her gloved hand across Wanda's mouth, Wanda's eyes widened in fright for a moment before Rogue spoke. Her black eyes seemed to target all of them as she looked over her shoulder. "Shh, they're listening."

_Step down to me child. Now._

Scott, who had been silent until now, exchanged worried glances with Beast. In a hushed voice so low that Rogue was barely able to hear Scott asked. "Who's listening?"

_Now!_

"Ah-Ah don't know who they are." Rogue's voice was in a hushed stumble as she tried to find the words. "They're waiting ta ambush us."

_NOW!_

Beast frowned at her and his eyebrows creased together. "How do you know this, Rogue what are you not telling us?"

_Too much waiting, you come to me NOW!_

Rogue opened her mouth to struggle to find the words, but she never got the chance. A force, stronger than she could have ever imagined, darker than she could have thought possible, one she couldn't see or touch gripped at her from her chest. Rogue felt her feet lift off the ground-not a sensation she wasn't familiar with, but usually one she had control of-yanked her down into the black hole she had just uncovered. Rogue was powerless to even fight it off at all, she let out an ear piercing scream as the cold rock ground came to meet her, but she stopped before it did.

_Give us your soul._

Rogue could hear her companions above her scrambling down the steps after her, but inside she knew it would make no difference. The force that held her still and floating lifted her so she was upright and could view her surroundings. Rogue's breath caught in her throat.

_**Bodies were hung around the basement from ropes that were attached to the ceiling. A demonic ceremonial alter stood at the far end of the basement, the bodies all lined in rows up to the alter. It was all black and red; the red was sticky and wet. Blood. Young boys and girls all the way up the line to old grandparents, their eyes stared on forever lifelessly.**_

Rogue couldn't even scream, her throat had dried of all saliva and her breathing was heavily labored. It was true, it was all coming true. The alter, the bodies, the blood, the stench of it filled her nostrils and made her stomach lurch, it was so overpowering-

_Do as we wish, you are ours now._

Behind her still form, the X-Men and lone Avenger gathered and stared at the destruction in horror. Their eyes transfixed, they couldn't seem to remove their gaze. Such horror, she heard footsteps stagger behind her and the distinguished sound of vomiting. Bobby, she supposed, he didn't have the stomach to see such destruction to humans, she knew. It took her a full moment for her to get her jaw to work. "Get out of here. Now."

Her voice was forced and it took extraneous effort to get the words out, but she managed. Her jaw felt like it had been molded of stone, what was happening to her? Before any of her friends could respond, movement came from the dark recess ahead of her. Rogue felt her body being pulled forward by the same force that had encompassed over her.

"That won't be necessary." Rogue knew the voice but none of her friends did, the voice that had haunted Rogue now revealed itself from the shadows. Behind the ringleader followed eleven others, all forming a half circle around the front of her. Somewhere from behind she heard chunky movement, as if something was rebuilding itself. Her answer came with Scott's words.

"The exit's gone!"

Wolverine growled, low and furiously. "I see twelve pinpricks' that are about ta feel some _real_ pain _real _fast." Wolverine leapt for the nearest one, but then found himself face to face with Rogue blocking the way.

"Careful." The haunted voice advised. "You have no grasp on what _real _pain is. Let me demonstrate." As if to prove his point Rogue felt the immediate release of the hold on her, but before she could even think of moving an excruciating pain cut through her entire system and burned through her nerves. Rogue had felt pain before, as an X-Man it was a normal routine of the job, but none of that pain could have ever prepared her for what she felt now. Her body convulsed uncontrollably and her eyes dilated, though the others wouldn't have been able to tell. It was as if her nervous system had exploded, every fiber ached, every cell screamed in torture, her throat burned so badly that she couldn't even scream. Rogue was unaware of anything around her; in that single moment she would have done anything, _anything_ to be released from the anguish she was in.

The pain abruptly stopped, but Rogue couldn't move. She lay on the floor, trembling, unaware of the tears that glided down her cheeks to slap against the bloodied floor. The memory still fresh in her mind of the anguish that ricocheted through her body, the cloaked man above her smiled, though she couldn't see it she heard it in his voice. He was gleaming. "She got to experience what one thousandth of what Hell would feel like." His grinning form walked over to her and leant over. "Did you like it? What's in store for you is going to be a thousand times worse, no not even that, a billion times. You will hold the Ultimate Evil One; he will reside in your bones. Don't you feel blessed child?" Rogue couldn't have answered him if she wanted to; his words barely even penetrated her at all. Her body continued to shake and she closed her tear-dripping eyes to it all.

Wolverine couldn't have known the extent of pain she had just been put through, but watching Rogue in any kind of pain was too much for him. He knelt down besides the trembling Rogue and put his hand on her shoulder, turning her to look him in the eyes. The hurt, the impossibly scorched pain that had run through her veins, the fear shone brightly through her eyes. Logan could feel the others come up besides him, but he gave them no heed or even inclination that he knew they were there.

"Rogue, darlin'. 'M sorry." Rogue's black eyes seemed to locate all of them the way it could in that mysterious, distant way. It took her what seemed like eternity to open her mouth, but the words never came.

_None of that._

The force that had dragged her through the air picked her up again and hauled her to the group of devil-followers. The ringleader looked at them once and immediately black coils grew from nowhere to wind around their bodies, effortlessly taking away their breath. Bobby tried to freeze the ones wrapping around him, but the coils seemed to be materialess. Scott's eyeblasters faired no better, not even Hank's strength could break the bond. They were materialess, yet as strong as steel. The group began to panic when it reached over to encompass their breathing, but a short gasp of breath stopped the coil.

"No." Rogue had meant to scream it, but she could barely even twitch and it had come out barely above a whisper. The coils stopped, but didn't unwind. The leader stared down at her with cold, unforgiving eyes.

_You can not stop their deaths child. Their future ends here, and yours just begins._

A memory flashed through Rogue's mind. _Remy…_

His cruel malice came back to her and Rogue curled away from it. _As does his. Once we obtain your soul, there is nothing you can do._

Rogue closed her eyes; she would be responsible for all of her friend's deaths. She knew she couldn't run from _him_, she knew what would happen to her. Either way, she lost. Rogue's eyes opened with a new understanding, none of it mattered. She forced her gaze to look at his cold, dead eyes._ Release my friends, and don't let Remy die…_

He chuckled; there was no humor or lightness in his laugh. _And why would I do that?_

Rogue didn't remove her gaze from his, her eyes staring straight forward into his feelingless ones, she continued. _Release my friends, and don't let Remy die and-and _She faltered, her eyes left his in weakness, but she let him know the deal._ And in exchange, you can take my soul._


	6. Unsaved Souls

**_Hey all you fans, this chapter is a little shorter because I got a reply that simply could not wait for my next update, so it's shorter but I hope ya still like it. Also, I wanted to save the big fight for the next chapter. So don't be too disappointed. And your reviews really do matter folks, I wouldn't have accomplished this if it hadn't specifically been asked for. Probably would have taken a much longer time, so keep that in mind before ya close the page. Oh and thank you to everyone who does already review, it's most all of my motavation._**

They had touchdowned a good three hundred yards away and the distance between them and the creature was only growing as it stomped away. Captain America looked far out into the distance as the figure retreated with a resigned expression. They had to take down the creature now, before it hurt any more innocent people. Turning to his comrades, he saw similar signs of resignation on their faces. This wouldn't be a pretty fight.

"Ok, we need our fastest to lure the thing back here so we can all face it. That means Carol and Pietro." He looked pointedly at the two, stressing how important it was with his eyes. "I'm going to need both of you to get that thing back here." He glanced at Ororo with a questioning look. "Can you go the speed of Carol?"

Ororo shook her head. "She's too fast for me, I can't make the winds carry me so quickly unless I conjured up a hurricane-which, let's wait on that for now."

Captain America nodded thoughtfully. "Alright, then we'll meet you both at halfway. If this thing is as strong as to beat Rogue and Gambit, it might be a match for us."

Gambit chipped in, confirmed Captain America. "its reall' powerful, dis t'ing threw Rogue t'rough _six_ buildin's. It also has abilities."

"Abilities?"

"It sho' Rogue widh a combination of lightnin' and de fireball-enough t' make her spastic out."

Storm bit her bottom lip. "It takes a lot of voltage to trigger Rogue's system-I can barely do it."

Remy nodded urgently "Yeah, stron' _homme_ dis be. No' affected at Rogue punches, need t' combine our strengths to beat it."

Captain America pondered thoughtfully. "Is there anything you two did that actually hurt it?"

Remy nodded. "_Oui._ Her strength an' de charged cars dat she t'rew at it."

Vision imputed. "If the creature is so strong that it can resist such heavy attacks, then perhaps it is best to distract the creature while we battle it as much as just getting it here. With these calculations we shouldn't hold back at all, I predict, with the information, that if all of us give it everything we got we'll barely be able to defeat it."

Captain America blanched. "Barely defeat it? You must be mistaken, there are nine of us here-it should be simple to take down simply with our advanced numbers." He turned to Remy. "I don't mean to insult you Remy, but there was only you and Rogue when you two faught it. Surely, we will be able to overcome it much easier."

"Hope y' right _homme_, jus' hope y' right."

--------

The materialess black coils unwound themselves from the group of heroes as Rogue sold her soul. Now that they were free, the heroes shook themselves free of the coils. Completely unaware of the transaction that had just taken place; Wolverine took a careful step forward and growled lowly in the back of his throat. "We're not leaving without Stripes, we came for answers and you're going ta give 'em to us." Six foot long claws shot out menacingly from his knuckles with a _snick_ as they slid against his metal encased bones. "Willingly or not, that's your choice."

The claws that frightened so many enemies were laughed at by the strange devil-worshiper. In a deep throaty laugh, he echoed out. "You possibly think that we would be threatened by the likes of _you!_" Again, his laugh echoed off the stone walls behind the dangling bodies. "You have no threat here; you are worthless, less than a speck. If not for the Chosen One…" he gestured harshly down at Rogue who froze, expecting another pain flash she closed her eyes and grit her teeth, but none came. Instead, he continued as though he hadn't even noticed her flinch. "…you would be dead right now. You may leave us be now, we have much preparing to do before the possession."

As he said this, Wanda got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Assuring herself that all the man's attention was on Logan, who was fiercely arguing back, Wanda stepped back and faded into the shadows under the rock stairs that led down into the passage. Watching from the shadows, she was suddenly glad she had made the move back where she couldn't be seen.

Wolverine had started to charge the demonic follows, but he didn't make it but five feet in front of them where he suddenly halted according to nothing seen in particular. A red blast of energy followed the unexplainably halted Wolverine and struck the leader squarely in the chest. He fell backwards and stumbled into one of the other followers that caught him as he fell. For that brief instant however, his hold on Logan released.

Logan savagely leapt forward onto the nearest robed character, who went down swiftly with a yelp of pained surprise as six claws inserted into his stomach. Without even waiting for the man to die, Logan's claws _snicked _back into his knuckles and he swung his arm around a full one hundred eighty degrees, just in time to close-line the next robe that had jumped for Rogue.

Cyclops was slowly progressing further towards the mass of robes, his eye lasers beating unstopping. Taking down yet another robe with his unique ability, Cyclops was shocked to feel hands wrap around his eyes from behind, completely knocking his glasses off. Of course, the hands were nothing to his eyebeams, but they also didn't crumple at the force. Instead of falling his attacker's hands back, Cyclops felt them latch across his head in a death grip and realized in horror what was happening a moment before it happened. He tried to close his eyes in time, but it was too late.

The strength of his eye blasts shot forward the unprotected hands and since the hands didn't unclasp, they brought with them the person. The robed figure collided into Cyclops's back, but still propelled them further. In the front, Cyclops was the main impact of the crushing wall that rushed to meet them both as they were forced forward. Crying out in pain, he was smashed between the wall and another body. His mind had only a second to realize how he had been tricked before it shut down completely and all he saw was black.

Beast punched another darkened figure in the face and grinned when it collapsed to the floor in a heap. His victory was cut short though, when a sickening crunch came from his side. Whirling around, he was in time to see Scott getting crushed and a follower crying out in agony as both his arms broke instantly under the pressure that had pushed them into the wall. Unaware of what had happened, but knowing Scott couldn't be in good condition Beast jumped over the heads of two more charging followers to check on his friend.

Roughly pulling the follower off his comrade, he cautiously turned over his friend. Scott's face was bloodied, his nose had been crushed under the impact and was freely spurting blood, Hank laid Scott down straight to stop the bleeding. Other than a rather nasty bruise on his stomach and a cut to his head, Scott was still ok. Hank figured he had suffered a concussion from hitting the uneven rock at such a speed, so he gently placed him alongside the wall and turned around in time to get brashly kicked in the stomach.

The blow barely fazed him at all, now angry that the robes had injured one of his friends, Beast showed even more furiousity than he had before. It was frightening to see the anger cross his eyes and before the unprepared robe could attack again, Beast was upon him like a hawk to its prey. The chap was out before he could even blink and an infuriated Beast prowled for the next nearest target. His eyes locked on the leader.

Watching them, Rogue gasped in amazement at the ferocity of the fight. After watching them take down all that got in their way, Rogue snapped back to her senses and began to crawl away from the fighting. However, she was still weak from the pain she had experienced only moments ago and her progress was sluggish. An arm arched downward to pull her to her feet. Rogue looked up into the concerned eyes of Bobby and gratefully latched onto his arm-just to be torn away a second later by a pulling force that was neither physical nor breakable. Rogue grunted at her head banged repetitively against the floor as the unseen force dragged her to the far end of the chamber and locked her down on the altar's smooth stone surface.

Rogue could neither move nor call out for help, but a call was sent anyway. Bobby's voice rang out in concern for her as a black light engulfed the circular altar around her. Rogue's eyes grew in fear as the flames of the black fire that held no heat began circling her. It aimed then, downward at her, as if preparing to strike. It was at that last moment that Rogue regained movement of her limbs, but it was already far too late. She opened her mouth in a silent scream when a body crashed into hers and sent both bodies sprawling to the edge of the altar.

Rogue barely got a glimpse of Wanda before the black flames leapt down upon them both and jumped into them. Rogue and Wanda simultaneously screamed in agony as fire scorched through their cells and then, there was nothing.

--------

Seeing the roar of black fire surround Rogue was horrifying, Bobby had immediately tried to run to her aid, but had been delayed by one of the followers. Unable to reach her in time, he was only able to abstractly watch Wanda leap at Rogue. From there, he didn't know. Now in a stranglehold, his air being efficiently cut off, he gasped for breath. Calling up his powers, he touched the man's robe and ice grew from his hand to cover his robe and eventually meet his skin. The man jumped back in surprise and released Bobby's neck. Now freed, Bobby wasted no time in backflipping to land his booted feet against the man's chest. The guy fell backwards into a waiting Logan's claws and Bobby smoothly landed on his feet.

Logan's eyes said everything as he let the man crumple to the ground and Bobby pointed towards the altar. "She was there." Without waiting for further explanation, Logan ran to the other end of the chamber and left a confused Bobby in his wait. After glancing around, Bobby saw that all the robes had been taken down except one. The leader of them all was facing the wrong side of Beast's fists as they crashed into his face. The leader of the group just stared at Beast and wrestled himself from the bigger mutant's grip. He seemed to address them all when he spoke, but he only stared at Beast.

"What you have done has no bearing. The Chosen One is already willing; your fight is in vain! You shall not cause any more troubles in this dimension." With a wicked cackle he grinned.

Before anyone could even blink he brought his robe up to cover his head and in another second the robe fluttered to the floor, empty. Beast stared at the robe for a moment before beckoning Bobby to where Logan stood over the altar. Logan's fists were tightly clenched and a fury that was only seen when Wolverine took over was visible.

"Logan?" Hank asked tentatively.

"We're gunna get her back Hank, we're gunna."

"I know Logan, Scott's still unconscious. Let's get him and regroup back at the jet."

Logan didn't move to follow them so Hank questioned again. "Logan?"

"Wait." Without sharing what he was doing, Logan began to cut down the hanging children and adults. If anything like this had happened to them too, then at least they deserved a proper resting, it was the least Logan could do for the souls he couldn't save.


	7. Cold Chill

--------

After scrambling to look for an exit and failing to find one, Derrick had turned to what he did best. His work and research. Of course, on the Avengers' Jet he didn't have all his materials and was struggling to decipher the text before him without his downloaded decodes that he had left on his computer.

Nevertheless, on he struggled, desperately regretting not bringing his computer with him. One particular line stood out to him, he could not read it and it was in-between two lesser important facts, but for some reason he kept feeling he _needed_ to decipher that line. Grunting in frustration, his brows knit together as he squinted at the unknown words on the page.

Afterwards, he would have felt foolish for not having seen it sooner. He would have slapped himself for such ignorance that he showed in not understanding the meaning, but for now-he knew only useless words of it.

Flipping the page of translations in front of him absently, he missed the one sentence that would complete his unknown connection. Unaware and tired, Derrick Eldan slouched back in his seat and sighed in frustration. Closing his eyes, he began to pray, he didn't know it then, but it might have been the most important prayer he had prayed his whole life.

In the middle of the page, underneath all the useless forth-information read the small phrase. _And Hell will be brought to earth with a fiery rage of the demons and all who live to see the day will mourn in anguish of the suffering. The Beast will consume all of their souls, good and evil alike will perish in his tight fist. The Chosen One will lead Lucifer to complete domination of this world._

--------

As Carol flew above the high buildings, she wondered in curiosity about the creature they would face today. The Avengers had overcome many adversaries in their days, even if few were counted as lost, and the X-Men had achieved the same. Then, why now, after all their victories, did she have a hallow feeling in the pit of her stomach? She didn't know, but it was bothering her. This was far from their original match, but Captain America was right…together with their combined forces, they could defeat it. Right?

Carol's eyes caught the blur beneath her that she recognized as Quick Silver. He was going so fast that it was impossible to clearly see him, only the blurred image of his trail was left as he defied the laws of science. She knew Quick Silver would be cocky about this mission and try to do something stupid, but she didn't intend to let him go off on the creature on his own. She had seen the monster and the effects of what it could do, he hadn't. She wouldn't let him do something foolish until the rest of the team arrived.

Her eyes searched the ground ahead of her and she located the creature. It wasn't hard to find, everywhere it went people were screaming and scrambling to get out of its path. It wasn't as if it blended in either, the monstrosity stuck out in the streets like a sore thumb.

Carol swooped down ahead of Quick Silver-which was no simple task-and landed down smoothly on solid ground. About two seconds later Quick Silver showed up behind her and skidded to a halt which ended up landing him about ten feet ahead of her. The metallic smell of blood greeted Carol's nose and she grit her teeth in sympathy. "Pietro."

The speed demon was antsy to get to work, he twitched uncomfortably. "What's the hold up, let's go."

"Don't do anything stupid, just get it back to the others and then you can be risky. Alright?"

Quick Silver smiled. "I never do anything stupid, nothing can ever faze me...well maybe besides Kitty Pryde."

"I'm serious Speedy, just get it back there."

Quick Silver shrugged and she knew he didn't give a damn about anything she'd just said. "Yeah, whatever."

Without another word, Quick Silver took off in the direction of the creature on the street outside. Carol sighed and flew after him, but this time much closer to the ground. The creature wasn't humongously tall so she didn't have to fly very high to get height advantage.

She rounded the corner of the ally to behold the abomination before her. Chaos. Chaos was the only word she could think of to describe it as. People were running in every direction to get away from the monster, the screaming was so loud you couldn't hear anything above the level of yells. Bodies, mangled parts, and injured people lay splayed around the area as if sunbathing; she wouldn't have been able to count them even if she wanted to. It was a picture from a horror scene, something so grizzly she had to take her eyes away from the ground. As an Avenger and before when she was known as Ms. Marvel, she had witnessed the dead before; she'd seen many pictures of nightmares and would for the rest of her life. But none of the events she had seen before could have measured up to this, couldn't even come close.

The edges of Carol's eyes watered as tears threatened to fall. She had never seen such inhumanity ever in her life; the poor people…Carol steeled her gaze and directed it to where Pietro stood frozen like a statue. At least she would be able to count on him not doing anything stupid now-she was positive that he had never witnessed such horror before either and as a new experience for them both, they were petrified with the surroundings of terror.

The terrible smell of blood was increased by a tenfold in this dreadful street. Carol almost choked on the stench as she raised her eyes to meet the cause of it all. The monster, or the Indestructible One as she'd come to known him as, was not only killing and injuring everyone and thing in its path, it was also taking hostages. A crate of over thirty people was being carried by the monster as the hostages screamed and begged for mercy. It showed none.

Carol's breath hitched in her throat as she witnessed the grizzly scene before her. In all her years, she never could have imagined something like this happening. In broad daylight, a villain so vile that it bypassed all the others by a tenfold, was openly killing and capturing innocents literally right from the street and killing and injuring dozens in the process.

If Carol didn't know better, she would have thought she was in a nightmare. As is, she knew better and quickly caught control of her agonized stare at the destruction. As if waking from a trance, she flew over to Pietro and tapped his shoulder lightly. When he didn't respond, she shook his shoulder gently.

"Pietro…"

Pietro was speechless for a moment. He had never witnessed such carnage, it was devastating. "I-It's so..."

"Come on, we can stop it. Let's lure it back to the others already." As if the creature could hear their words and read their minds, it turned to them in a menacing way and set the crate down-none too gently-besides its massive frame.

"Get ready. Here it comes…"

As soon as the crate touched the ground, the creature leapt at them. Pietro sped away and Carol narrowly missed being tackled to the ground by the monster. Pietro started to circle the creature, stirring up a wind so strong that it would have lifted anything off the ground. True to the effect, the creature was spun in Pietro's whirlwind and the speedster smiled satisfactory. _This isn't going to be so hard._ But then the creature did something that neither of them knew he could do. Two wings unfolded from its back that had been hidden under the steel-like plated armor and he flapped out of the whirlwind almost as if it hadn't effected him at all. As if the new discovery of wings wasn't enough, his gaze turned to the speedster on the ground.

Quick Silver was still speeding around on the ground and was utterly surprised when the creature appeared in front of him-appearing to go the same speed as him. The monster raised a fist to Quick Silver and he was barely able to duck down under it. Even so-the speed of the punch brought the wind pushing against him and he fell back against the concrete.

Looking up from the sidewalk, Quick Silver was horrified to see the creature's clawed fist raise into the air to come swooping down at him. He tried to move, but it was too late-a fierce pain coursed through his side and his vision perception dimmed.

--------

Being the one that could access the creature without even having to be there, Jean was already hard into her work at accessing the monster's mind.

Ororo looked expectantly at her partner besides her, Jean's eyes were shut tightly and she was in deep concentration. Sweat beaded her forehead as if she had just run a marathon. Not wanting to be pushy, but curious all the same, Ororo asked. "Well?"

Jean put up a hand to silence her, and wiped away the sweat that had been briskly forming on her brow. She began to concentrate harder. She was already past full-blown exertion from trying to reach the creature's mind and without any time to rest, she was rapidly loosing herself to over-exertion. In her first attempt, she had aimed for a more outward attack, it was only after her mind jolts didn't work that she started to creep into the beast's mind, but it was like looking for a black thread in the dead of night.

On her first attempted entry she had been walled out by a liquid-like black abyss, which she had assumed was a created wall to block her entry. As in other minds, she had found that people built barriers of what they most felt comfortable with, so naturally this must have been the beast's predilection of blocking her out. But upon further pressing, she had discovered that the black abyss wasn't a shield at all, it was actually the creature's mind.

Which left her in a new situation; she had searched through the darkness for some time now and still exposed nothing. The only other time that a situation like this had occurred to her was when she had mistakenly tried to read the mind of what she thought had been an intelligent life creature, but turned out to be a creation of no thought on its own. The obvious conclusion she could draw from her previous experience was that the creature could not think for itself, or was in fact not a creature, but a creation. Either way brought bad conclusions, but the former was worse than the latter. From scanning its body, she had detected actual sinew and muscle; the creature had everything that intelligent life would, except its absence of thought.

That left only one option left, the beast was being controlled by a deeper power that had complete control over it to the point that the creature was made into a partisan. This did not bode well for the X-Men, they were having enough troubles just trying to take the creature down, if it had a stronger mastermind that was controlling its every move Jean hated to think how strong its controller would be. This incredibly strong beast was only the puppet, who was its manipulator?

Breathing heavily, Jean was about to give up trying to decipher anything new from the creature, but then a booming voice stopped her. It was so abrupt that Jean nearly jumped out of her skin in fright, after searching this time and finding nothing, the voice utterly confused and surprised her at the same time. It didn't stop for her to gain her senses back before speaking.

"_You're wasting your time woman, true that this creature will die, but not by anything you can do. Your mind tricks do not work on my underling, for he has no mind of his own and you could not possibly ever take control of my mind. I know every one of your abilities and have copied them into my creation; they are all known and expected from my creature. You may end up defeating him in the end, but he will take as many as you with him as possible. He serves no other purpose than to serve me."_

The voice sent cold chills throughout Jean's mind, she tried to think back of when she had felt this before because she knew she had, but it did not come to her straight away and she was now faced with the new voice. "_Who are you? Why are you doing this? What could you possibly gain from killing hundreds of people?"_

A sound came that resembled a chuckle, but there was no lightness in the laugh. It was the laugh of a madman. _"You foolish humans, you don't even realize what is going on. I am Lucifer and I have come for my souls at last." _Jean froze, this couldn't be for real could it? No…it had to be some kind of act_. You will all worship me when the time comes, nothing will be able to stop me. Not your foolish tribe of heroes nor God himself can get in my way."_

"_We'll find a way to stop you."_

Again, the dark, throaty chuckle came from everywhere around her in her dark abyss. _Foolish mortal, I shall indeed lavish your soul with torture beyond your wildest nightmares. Nothing and nobody can escape me. Your teammate, Rogue, she will be my deliverer. She gives up her soul to save you, but she has no idea what she has committed to. You will all suffer eternally because of her misgivings._

Jean stiffened again, how did he know about Rogue? Did he…might Team B have been captured? Jean shivered at the thought. Before she could even respond to the dark voice claiming to be Lucifer, he spoke up first. _Your stupidity will be the death of you. Fate is set in stone at this point; there is nothing anyone can do. She has already sacrificed her soul to me. In time, you will all perish._

With that, the presence of the voice left and Jean was once again alone in the black abyss. Jean slowly withdrew herself from the creature's mind-which was no easy task in itself-and opened her eyes to face Ororo. She finally recognized the chill-it was the same chill she had recieved when she entered Rogue's mind.

There was horror reflected in her eyes as she stared at Ororo. "What happened?" Ororo asked concernedly, Jean cast her eyes downward.

Jean quickly explained to the entire group about the encounter she had just had, she was visibly shaking by the end of her tale. "We're fighting a war with the Devil and there's nothing we can do to stop it."

_**A/N: Ok guys, sorry for the long delay from chapter to chapter. I'm not going to make up excuses because I was just being lazy-I'm sorry. I hope you guys like the update and please review-I have over a thousand viewers of this story and yet only 31 reviews. It's disheartening to see that people don't care enough to spend a minute of their time to write how they liked or disliked it, I mean I'm writing the story for YOU, do you know how much time that takes? Please review.**_

**_Thanks to all those who already review for me, you guys are the best-Really I only write the story for yous. And also, Thanks Tammy-I write my thanks out to everyone seprately, but can't to you since you're annoynomous so I'll say it here. Thanks for your review._**


	8. The Robed Figure

_A/N: I know there's no way to apologize enough for the delay between chapters here. If I try I could reguarly update, but I haven't been trying and I am so immensly sorry for it. It's ok if you guys hate me, because if I were you, hearing me make promises about quicker updates then not responding for so long, I would hate me too. I was going to make this longer, but you've waited long enough so here is the next chapter. I'm so terribly sorry for the delay, I'm an awful person for making my much beloved viewers wait so long...I'm so sorry guys, there's not words for it. I'm not askin' for your forgiveness, I don't deserve it, but I hope you're still with me in this story._

"What now? Wanda and Rogue are both missing and we have no idea where they might be, anyone who could have given us some insight are either dead or gone with Rogue and Wanda _and_ we didn't even gain any information!" the usually level-headed Scott was beside himself with the team's recent failure, as leader of the group he was ashamed at how easily he'd been taken out and how much they'd just lost. As far into the mission as they were, nothing had gone right.

"Shud'up One-Eye, we're going ta get them back." Logan was in a sour mood, anything that affected Rogue affected him in a negative way. He had just wakened Scott from unconsciousness and the first thing the leader did was clarify how bad the mission was going. Their repeated failures got on his nerves, especially since it was Scott who clarified them and probably more so because he knew Scott was right.

"Well, what're we supposed to do now?"

Logan grunted under his breath. "Some leader you are," Scott glanced at him.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." Logan wasn't going to start fighting with Scott; much as he liked to make the other man's life miserable, now wasn't the time. Now he was upset and angry and needed an enemy to pummel.

Hank spoke from besides Bobby, both unusually quiet. "Let's get back to the jet and try to contact the others; they'll want to know what's happened. We can figure out what to do from there."

As the gloomy tribe of heroes left the dark basement and went upstairs to the black robe room, their hearts were filled with dread. They had no idea where Rogue and Wanda had been transported to and at this point, had no way to follow them. For all they knew, that fire could have vaporized them both, but Logan refused to believe that. Rogue couldn't be dead, no way. She was a fighter, she would have many more years to go. Logan was shaking in fear and rage; he was so unaware of his surroundings that when he stepped out of the devil-worshipper's place, he completely failed to realize the change in surroundings.

Behind him, Scott, Hank, and Bobby just witnessed their comrade vanish into thin air. Uncertainly, Scott called out. "Logan?"

Dragging him out of his thoughts, Scott's voice just barely registered and Logan turned around, for the first time he noticed he was not in the street that they'd come from. "What the…" A low, guttural growl escaped his throat as he looked around. The shops, broken down houses, and deserted streets had completely vanished. In their place was a hellish surrounding, there were many pathways leading every which way, but none looked promising. The ground was duskily gray except for the occasional crater in which red lava-like liquid shot forth from. The sky, once a misty gray, was a deep, blood red and putrid. The air itself was polluted to the breath, and with every intake Logan inhaled the smell of brimstone. What once was a gloomy New York street had turned into a strange land that looked volocanic. Logan looked as far as his advanced sight could see, but nothing other than the dusky landscape was clear to his vision. Scott's voice rang out again and called him back to the present.

"Logan, are you there?"

"Scooter? Where are you?" Logan's eyes roamed his surroundings, looking around. Scott was no where to be found.

"Wait, we hear you! Hold on!" In another second, Scott must have stepped out of the shop too, because with a small pop he appeared behind Logan. Logan whirled around as Scott looked about him in confusion.

"What the…?"

Logan opened his mouth to tell the others not to leave the shop, but…too late. With two more popping noises, Hank and Bobby appeared beside Scott.

"Huh?"

Logan was connecting the dots in his mind. "That stupid, son of a bitch!"

Scott wheeled around to look at him inquiringly, "What?"

Logan, enraged, advanced on him. "Don't you get it! That son of a bitch transported us to a different dimension! Remember his words 'you will not cause any more troubles in this dimension'! That fuc-"

"Logan! Calm yourself!" Beast was looking around worriedly, but was even more concerned about Logan's temper. Logan was an animal when he lost control. "If he found a way to get us here, there has to be a way to get out!"

Logan's expression was still enraged, but a little sanity peeked in through the edges of his eyes. With a disgruntled growl, he turned around again and futilely glanced around once more.

Bobby, who had remained unusually silent until now, meekly asked. "What now?"

"Pick a direction."

Beast bit his lower lip, perhaps uncomfortable with the lack of ethics to this plan. Scott just looked on hopelessly. "It's the best we can do." With that, they set off Northward, with nothing in sight except bare stretches of deserted land.

--------

Remy's mortified stare might have been comical if it were not for the circumstances. It was not often that one got to see the slick Cajun unnerved. After Jean had relayed her unsteady conversation with Lucifer, Remy had already started to connect the dots. Derrick had been telling the truth! But if that were the truth, that Rogue had already given up her soul-then they couldn't be allowed to kill the monster. To do so would condemn Rogue. From his understanding, Remy drew that the whole dirty process could not take place until after the creature had died, and if they didn't kill the creature, Rogue wouldn't be in danger. However, they had to somehow contain the monstrosity to stop the killing of innocents, if they caught the monster, would the whole thing be put at rest? "De _homme_ was tellin' de truth!"

All eyes turned to Remy uncomprehending at his exclamation. "Who told the truth?"

"De ol' religious _homme. _He knew dis would happen! He probably knows more too! We can' kill dis beast! It'll condemn Rogue!"

Captain America was looking slightly unnerved. "Whoa now, son. What's this all about?"

"De crazy religious guy was righ'! He predic'ed all dis t' happen! When we was leavin' de jet he told Remy dat Rogue would have t' give up her soul an' she'd be da next! He said 't'ings have been predic'ed an' are happenin''. It's jus' as he said! We can' kill it, not at de risk of condemnin' Rogue!

"But what about everyone else it will hurt?"

"Den we subdue it temporally, bu' it can' die."

Her face clouded with doubt, Kitty spoke. "How do we know we can trust Derrick? What if he's working with them?

Kurt crossed his eyes quizzically. "Vhy vould he say 'nything in ve firs' place if he vas?"

"To trick us so we don't kill the beast!" Kitty was on a roll now. "What if he's just trying to keep it alive and both of them are just making it up that Rogue'll be in danger so we don't do anything about it!"

Jean shook her head. "I did a scan on his mind when we first encountered him; to make sure he wasn't delusional…He's not on their side."

"Ve can't let it hurt Rogue ven!" Kurt cried in exasperation, Remy nodded his agreement.

Storm crossed her eyebrows with a frown. "Then we have to capture it, to make sure it doesn't hurt anybody else. And from what we've heard so far, that's going to be no easy task."

"We better be ready, then" Captain America joined the X-Men's conversation and glanced over at Jean. "Can you see how good Carol and Pietro are doing?"

Jean squinted her eyes shut; when she opened them again they were full of fear.

--------

A low moan escaped the half-conscious Rogue as she struggled to wake herself from the unnatural darkness that had been laid upon her. To her right, she heard a scuffle and then a far away, distorted voice calling to her.

"Rogue…Is that you?"

Rogue grumbled out something intellectual to human speech and tried to roll over. Her head was lightly met with a hard, rock wall and she groaned as her hand came up to cover her head. Gingerly, she opened her eyes, expecting to be blinded by the harsh light of day. She was surprised to find herself encompassed by darkness all around her. Rogue nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand was placed tenderly on her shoulder, she jumped back and raised her fists defensively…only to see through the dimness that the person was Wanda.

"Ya've got ta stop touchin' mah shoulder like that." Rogue grumbled good-naturedly, dropping her defensive stance. Wanda withdrew her hand and waited for Rogue to become accustom to their surroundings. "What happened? Where are we?"

"I don't know, I only woke up a moment ago before I heard you. What's the last thing you remember?"

Rogue squinted, as if trying to think for a moment. "The dark fire…Ah only remember feelin' the awful sensation of it burnin' through meh an' then nothin'."

Wanda nodded. "Me too, I can't remember anything past that. What do you think that fire stuff did anyway?"

Rogue shook her head disdainfully. "If Ah could know what everythin' happenin' was doin' ta meh Ah wouldn't be in this position now."

Wanda nodded in silent agreement, and then she seemed to be studying Rogue for a moment before drawing back. "Something seems different about you…"

"Huh?" Truth be told, Rogue hadn't felt the same since the encounter with the creature. That had visibly affected her eyes, which she was still growing accustomed to, but it was even deeper than that. Ever since the dreams had started she felt…different. There was no other name to describe it, no word that would give it a proper description. It was as if she'd completely changed overnight, and yet, hadn't. Worried that this might be showing, Rogue looked at her person and tried to avoid the subject. "Do Ah look any different?" she frowned before adding, "Other than mah eyes..."

Wanda sensed Rogue's uneasiness about the topic, although she didn't want to push her friend into talking about something that disturbed her, they had to get to the bottom of this. "No, it's not that…Rogue, do you remember when you and Remy first fought the creature thing?

Rogue's forehead creased along with her frown. "How can Ah forget?"

"Do you…" Wanda bit her lower lip, she'd have to approach this carefully, "Do you remember anything after goin' unconscious?"

Rogue's frown deepened as she tried to figure where Wanda was going with this. "Am Ah supposed ta'? Ah mean, usually mah mind isn' conscious when Ah'm unconscious…why? Am Ah supposed ta remember anythin'?"

Wanda bit her lower lip. "You made a prophesy. You said something about the end coming and…it didn't seem like it was you at all. And…you've just been sort of…different." The prophesy was news to her, but Rogue wasn't all that surprised, which scared her a bit. Now, if any time, would be the best chance to tell Wanda about the voice…and the force that followed it.

Even though it was dark already and Rogue could barely see Wanda anyhow, she lowered her head and bit her lower lip nervously. "Ya'know how ya were askin' about meh when we left tha jet?" Wanda nodded, remembering the incident that Rogue insisted she was ok. "Well, that wasn't really the truth…" Wanda didn't look surprised. "Ah didn' tell ya what was wron' 'cuz Ah couldn't." Wanda opened her mouth to interject, but Rogue held up her hand. "Jus' lemme get this out. Ah didn' know what it was then, but it stopped meh from tellin' anyone what was wrong. It turned out ta be that mystical guy, he was talkin' to meh in mah head for awhile, and he was controlling meh too. Ah didn't realize it, but he was an'-an' that's how Ah knew it was the basement.-He sent tha dreams…Ah think they were visions of what's gunna happen…tha's why Ah freaked out when ya touched mah shoulder…but also, after ya did that…In the dream, ah, vision, whatever, but…Ah saw Remy die."

Rogue shivered at the thought and she could see Wanda's mouth drop, she burrowed her head even farther down before continuing. "An' then, in tha basement when tha coils were killin' ya'll, he was talkin' to meh. An'…Ah made a deal with him."

Wanda gaped at Rogue, she seemed speechless until she found her voice and hoarsely asked. "What kind of deal did you make, Rogue?" Her voice was tinged with an unnatural panicked tone that Rogue had never heard before in Wanda's voice.

"Ah…Ah tol' him Ah'd give him mah soul if he promised ta let you guys go an'-" Rogue's voice started to crack. "An' if he promised not ta kill Remy."

Wanda's eyes were wide in shock as if she were seeing Rogue for the first time, her mouth kept opening and closing, but no words came out. She looked horror-stricken at Rogue's words, but if she was going to say anything, Rogue didn't find out.

"That's right." An all-too familiar voice rang out behind Rogue in the darkness and Rogue shivered as a cold chill went down her spine. "Your debt will be paid, mortal." Fingers clicked and a low, dim light sprung forth from dozens of candles lined along the stone wall. Just visible in their flickering shadow, was the voice to Rogue's nightmares, the lead follower, of the devil and the reason she was here now. Rogue heard Wanda's soft voice murmuring words that meant nothing to her, but would bring forth power to the mutant. Before she was finished, however, Rogue stiffened and let out a moan of pain as she began to tremble. A low, throbbing pain began to rock her body, but it was growing steadily stronger by the second. So fast that in a few moments Rogue screamed and fell to her knees, writhing. It wasn't as much as before in the basement, but it was consistent and hurt.

Wanda sent a hex sphere at their assailant, but he waved it aside before it even touched him and it dispersed in the air. In a calm tone, he spoke. "I'd be more careful if I was you, you're reckless and useless actions appear to be hurting your comrade." Tears were brimming in Rogue's eyes, but she was stubbornly refusing to let them fall. Wanda's eyes flickered to Rogue's pained form before she dropped her hands in defeat. The pain in Rogue instantly stopped and she collapsed, still twitching. "That's better. Although I may not have any power over you, it's clear that you value your comrades much more than yourself. A foolish weakness, if I must say."

Wanda gritted her teeth as she walked besides Rogue's shaken form and knelt beside her. "Ya' should just go, leave meh." Rogue grimaced as she pulled herself to her knees, with a defiance that Wanda could only admire, she glared at their capture and shot.

"If ya' don't let Wanda leave, tha deal's off."

To her despair, the robed figure smiled. "Oh, it's far too late for that. You've already played your cards, Rogue. I'm afraid-or rather, delighted, to inform you that the deal is already sealed. Even if you regret it now and wanted to go back on your word, you can't. Your soul is mine, now, and forever. You've no idea what kind of game you're playing, at first, when your soul was no sealed to me, I could just control small, minor actions that wouldn't matter in the long run because you were already destined to me. But now, since your soul is mine, you are nothing."

Rogue growled lowly, sounding a lot more like Wolverine than herself. "Ya' may be able ta toy with meh, but Ah'll never do what ya want."

The robed figure chuckled. "Ah, now that is where you're mistaken, Rogue. You see, your friends are going to kill my first servant and then, when the necessary sacrifices are brought, you will be possessed by the Darkest Evil, the Most High Lucifer himself! What an honor for such a lowly creature, and you see, once the Most High Lucifer possesses you, you'll not be able to stop him. Nothing can stop him. These events have been set in motion for thousands of years, ever since He died on the cross. You're just the lucky mortal to withhold such unimaginary power of the Dark Lord."

Rogue sneered. "Like Ah want any more filth in meh, ya don't seem ta know Ah've had a lot'a experience containing other 'entities'. Yours'll be no different." It was a false bravado; Rogue was frightened by his words and the events that had led up to her in this situation right now, but even as she said them she felt a little more comfortable. What did make this entity any different than the others? Hell, she'd been possessed by the vampire's Gods before and she still made it. He seemed to read her thoughts as he shouted.

"Foolish mortal! You've no idea what you've gotten yourself into! This is not like any of your other silly adventures, you will perish!" Rogue brushed at having her other life-threatening situations called 'silly adventures', she was gaining bravery now as she thought about it.

"Yeah? Well, 'when tha time comes', do your worst."

The robed figures features suddenly contorted into a smile that was most unpleasant. "You'll regret those words, mortal."

With that, he clicked his fingers again and the throbbing pain returned to Rogue's body. Wanda looked on helplessly as she tried to calm Rogue's uncontrollable convulsions and pain. Only seconds after Rogue had spoken the strong words, she regretted them.

--------


	9. Captured

Pietro's vision swirled as Carol knocked him out of the way at high speed; he glanced up just in time to see her directly nailed with the clawed fist that was aimed at him. A resounding thud rippled like waves through the street, the only people left, other than himself and Carol, were horribly wounded bodies of people that had no chance of recovery. There moans were completely covered by the thud of Carol's body as she impacted the ground, making a seven foot creator around her. 

Carol groaned, her body sore, as she tried to pull herself to her feet. But before she could manage the simple task, the creature wrapped its great paw around her middle and, in a death grip, lifted her cleanly off the ground in his tight fist. Carol's first impression was that it was trying to squeeze her to death, and she fought vigorously against it, latching her own hands on his and attempting to pry the beast's fingers off. She had little success and the beast only tightened his hold, Carol was going to pass out if this kept up much longer.

Taking in a deep swell of air, with difficulty, Carol cried out. "Don't just stand there 'Tro, do something!"

As if snapping out of a trance, Pietro shook his head and began to race around the creature. If it had noticed at first, it might have just stepped out a foot to stop him, but the creature was too busy focusing his attention on crushing her to realize much of anything else. But as Pietro picked up more speed, the beast found himself, and to Carol's dismay-herself too, caught in a whirlwind like tornado that lifted him right off his feet. The beast roared viciously and seemed to forget about Carol, because he let go of her a few seconds later and Carol only just managed to stop herself in time from colliding into a building from the whirlwind's effects.

For almost a minute, it looked like they were making progress. Pietro began to direct the whirlwind back towards the group of heroes, so they could finish it off, but then the beast gazed at the swirl of color that Pietro represented and a red beam, much like Cyclops' eye blasts, shot forth from his eyes and nailed Pietro on the shoulder. Pietro faltered, and the whirlwind grew weaker and the next thing he knew he had completely stopped his progress and was being blown back by a strong gust of wind. Pietro stared, dumbstruck, as he fought to stay in place as the wind blew him back. What was this? It seemed like the beast had all of the combined powers of the X-Men intensified times ten. Pietro shook his head, like a dog trying to rid himself of water, and opened his mouth to call out to Carol, but the wind almost entirely took away his voice in its gusts and he knew Carol couldn't hear him from such distance.

Carol picked up another car and flung it at the creature. The massive objects she was throwing at it didn't seem to have any affect, at least, not until one of the cars she threw came back at her. Just ducking out of the way, Carol glanced over and saw Pietro being gusted away by a stream of strong, high powered wind. Carol bit her lower lip. She and Pietro could not lure this thing by themselves; it really required the whole team. Making up her mind, Carol swooped down to pull Pietro out of the gusting wind. Instead of quickly lifting him from the ground as she had hoped, Carol found herself blown back by the fierce tide and tumbled in Pietro. They landed haphazardly tangled between each other in an alley behind a dirt-stained building. Carol shrugged to herself; at least they were out of the wind.

"Pietro, we need to get the others. We can't hurt it by ourselves, we can't even lure it to them, it's too strong." Pietro nodded in agreement, his arrogance, for once, not appearing in light of the situation.

"No kiddin',"

Carol got to her feet and pulled Pietro up, she spent an extra second too long to dust herself off before the creature appeared behind her. Pietro's eyes widened in fright, and he grabbed her hand to pull her away, but too late, the creatures' tail swept around and knocked Carol harshly in the head. Already having taken so much damage, Carol tried to stay conscious, but found the task impossible and through about the fourth building, to her dismay, her eyes shut and darkness surrounded her.

Pietro took one look at the direction Carol had been hit, figuring she'd be fine until he caught up with the others, and sped away.

--------

The remaining X-Men, except for Gambit, Captain America, and Vision clutched Nightcrawler's hand frivolously and he teleported to the location Jean had transmitted into his mind. Only moments later, what seemed like an eternity for him, and they were on a devastated street full of dead people and destroyed buildings. They looked around, but no sign of a beast, or Carol or Pietro was visible.

Nightcrawler reeled from transporting so many people at once and held a hand to his head to calm the burning headache that had started.

"Are you alright?"

Nightcrawler nodded Storm's concerns away. "I'll ve vine." As if to prove the point, he removed his hand from his head and looked around with the others, questionably. "Vhere is verybody?"

Jean's eyes glazed for a second before she answered. "Pietro ran to get us…I'm calling him back now."

"What about Carol?" Captain America asked anxiously, Jean frowned.

"Let me scan the area…hold on." After a few moments Jeans' eyes opened again, she wore a very troubled expression.

Just then, Pietro rounded the corner and came to a skidding halt in front of Jean and the gang. "I only left to get you guys, I swear!" He seemed to notice their expressions and shrugged. "What?! It's the truth!"

Storm nodded. "We know Pietro, where was Carol when you last saw her?"

Pietro pointed at five collapsed buildings. "She was hit through there, I was coming for you guys 'cuz we couldn't lure him over." Jean frowned and opened her eyes.

"Neither Carol or the creature is anywhere near here, they've just…disappeared."

Pietro's attention seemed to be elsewhere, he glanced over Jean's shoulder to the street behind her. "That's not right…"

"What's amatter?" Kitty asked anxiously, this whole mission was starting to freak her out.

"There were people here…" Storm raised her eyebrow expectantly.

"They ran away?"

But Pietro shook his head. "No, they were seriously wounded. There's no way one of them could have even moved to escape, let alone all of them. They're…gone."

Before anyone could work out the new meanings of the events, the X-Jet _Blackbird_ appeared above their heads with Gambit steering, without caring to camouflage it, Gambit roughly landed and was at the rear door before the pathway had even laid down completely.

"Knew he knew mo'e! Come he'e, gramps has got a story t' tell!"

--------

Rogue had no idea what the robed man was doing now, she was just glad the pain was gone. For the last twenty minutes he had left both her and Wanda alone, where they had sat, talking about what they were going to do. Rogue had a nasty suspicion that the robed man could hear every thing they were saying, even though he was on the opposite end of the cave in a dark, secluded area. Wanda felt the same way, so they were careful about what they said. Rogue was in no hurry to feel the pain coursing through her body again, and Wanda was kind enough to not want that for Rogue either.

Wanda was speaking through Rogue's ponderings; Rogue only caught the last sentence. "…do you think will happen?"

Although Rogue had been thinking of other things, she knew what Wanda was talking about, so didn't bother to ask her to repeat. "Ah don't know, but Wanda ya' should really jus' go. The deal Ah made is allowin' ya to walk out at any time and once Ah…once Ah lose my soul it's not really going ta matter."

Wanda shook her head resolutely. "I'm not going to leave you here alone, Rogue. There's a way out of everything, you'll see. We'll get out of here."

Rogue opened her mouth to argue, but before she got the chance to say anything, there was a loud popping noise and the smell of brimstone temporally overpowered her nostrils, she coughed venomously, and turned her head to see what caused the disturbance.

Her fleeting hope that Nightcrawler had somehow found them and was going to take her away evaporated when she saw the cause of her misery. Him, the beast was in the middle of the cave, but that wasn't it. In his arms were seriously wounded people that he carelessly dropped and in the middle of them, Rogue's heart skipped a beat, was Carol.

The robed man that had also caused Rogue so much pain appeared beside the creature's side, looking gleeful like he was a little kid that just realized it was their birthday. "Excellent!" He cried in joy. "Most excellent, yes they'll do. Now, go fetch others…and kill the nasty little heroes." Rogue's eyes widened, and the robed man paused. "All except Remy LeBeau."

Rogue gaped and then found her voice. "Ya' lying, son ofa' bitch little bastard! We've got a deal! Ya'-" But then, the robed figure waved his hand and Rogue's voice disappeared. She opened her mouth to speak, but the words wouldn't come. Rogue wanted to rip the man limb from limb, but to her dismay, she found that she couldn't move her arms or legs either.

"Tuh-tuh-tuh, as amusing as I find you're useless struggles, I have much to prepare. If you think carefully, I am not going back on the deal. You said clearly to 'let your friends go and don't let Remy die.' That does not include the safety of all your other comrades." He paused, and then gently waved his arm. Rogue found she could speak again, but still couldn't move. Even with her voice back, Rogue was at a loss for words. She finally mumbled out.

"Well…what about her," She indicated Carol with her hand. "You said you'd let my friends go."

A cruel smile graced the robed man's features and his eyes gleamed with evil intent. "Yes, I did. And I am also fulfilling that promise. You said 'let my friends go', as far as I know, and I know everything, because the Dark Master tells me, you have never considered Miss Danvers over there to be a 'friend'."

Rogue's mouth dropped open, but nothing came out. It was true; she never had considered Carol a friend. She felt guilty about what happened when she was with the brotherhood, but Carol refused to forgive her for that and they certainly never became 'friends' after it. Rogue's mouth shut absently and his smile grew. "Yes, that's right. The next time you make a deal, I suggest you consider your words more carefully."

As if mentioning her had shaken a vibe, Carol started to wake up. The robed man turned to the creature, ordered something in a different language that Rogue didn't understand, and the next thing she knew, the smell of brimstone increased and the beast disappeared. The robed man began to drag the wounded people to the walls of the cave.

Carol peered up through half-closed slits and was surprised that she wasn't immediately blinded by light. Pulling herself together, Carol sat up and was surprised to see Wanda sitting, wide eyed, next to none other than Rogue. Quickly discarding all remnants of sleepiness, Carol sat bolt upright and glared at Rogue. Rogue turned her head downward and stared at the floor, looking defeated.

"Where are we? How'd I get here?"

Wanda, also looking deflated, answered in a hallow tone. "The creature thing transported you here, though we're not sure where 'here' is."

Carol looked around expectantly, as if wondering if she'd recognize her surroundings. "How'd you get here?" Wanda noticed she didn't include Rogue, but was neither surprised or offended for her friend by it.

"That robed guy put some kind of transporting thing on the alter we saw, and I tried to push her off, but then we both ended up here."

"Alter? What? I thought you guys just went to investigate that store…"

"We did, it turned out to be a demonic summoning ground." Carol frowned.

"What's to stop us from walking out of here? That robed guy doesn't look so tough. In fact, he looks normal. Why don't we just kick his ass and leave?"

And, true to their suspicions, the robed man could hear their talking. He walked up behind Carol, having finished moving the other wounded, and grinned sadistically. "Because, you might cause your teammate some _pain."_ At the last word, the fierce pain that Rogue was so grateful for leaving, came back again. Rogue fell from her sitting position to all fours, panting, as sweat trickled down her forehead and fire raced through her veins. She could vaguely hear Wanda calling out for him to stop and a harsh laugh that followed. Rogue held a hand over her stomach as the pain reached over her body, making her want to retch. She felt unclean, as if the pain held something that she didn't want anywhere near her, much less in her. Rogue's lungs longed to scream, but they were so busy taking in air that when she opened her mouth she could only gasp.

In a few seconds it was all over, and Rogue, weakened, fell to her side, reeling and taking in air as if she were starved for oxygen. Carol glanced from Rogue's weakened form to the robed man behind her. She extended her fist backwards, preparing to pummel the man, not so much for Rogue's suffering, as for their escape, when black, oily bonds fastened tightly around her wrists and ankles, effectively cutting off any use she could have for them. The robed man smiled.

"But, of course, enemies don't care much for each other's well being, so you will have to stay tied up." The coils cut harshly into Carol's wrists and ankles and she grimaced as a trickle of blood escaped under the bonds. "For the Chosen One's sake." Carol struggled to shake loose the bonds as he turned and left, but it was to no avail. They would not come undone.

Meanwhile, Rogue had pulled herself back up to her knees, and although she was still trembling and drawing in deep gasps of air, she managed to say. "Go, Wanda. Really. Ya' cahn be more use not here. Bring tha others an' then come back."

It looked like that was the last thing Wanda wanted to do, especially now since two of her friends were captured and even more so because those friends disliked each other greatly. "Ro-"

"No, Ah'm serious. If ya don't leave by choice, Ah'm gunna tell him" her eyes fell distastefully on the robed man. "ta send ya away."

Wanda sighed, she knew Rogue had made up her mind and wouldn't change it, but that didn't mean she had to be happy about it. She wanted to stay and try to help them here, but Rogue made more sense. She could be a bigger help if she retrieved the team first. "Okay, but Rogue…" Rogue shook her head. Biting her lower lip, Wanda proceeded to hug them both. She whispered in Rogue's ear as she did so. "Just stay ok," With one last regretful look, she told them both. "I'll be back," And the next minute she was gone, leaving Rogue alone with a girl that hated her and a mysterious devil worshipper that loved causing her agony.

Rogue shivered, it was going to be a very long time until Wanda got back.

_A/N: Thanks, everyone. I can't believe your staying with me on this. As an apology, I've rapid fire updated this, and I would continue to do so too, but I won't be home for the next two days. So...enjoy this update and I'll try ta hurry back for ya._


	10. Choice of Words

Rogue shifted nervously, feeling childish for being so uncomfortable. Carol watched the retreating back of Wanda with hope, and even some envy. Why did Wanda just get to walk out while she was stuck here with the monster that had ruined her life? And why had Wanda hugged her? As Carol thought about it, Wanda had also stuck up for Rogue when Rogue was beat nearly to death by the creature. Carol's memory raced back to all the times she had been with Wanda. Wanda had not agreed with her for quite some time now, not like she used to. Carol traced Wanda's changed behavior all the way back to the time she had been kidnapped by the Leader. She'd been captive with the X-Men Rogue and Wolverine, had that changed something? The thought was like a stab in the back to Carol, how long had Wanda been friend to her most hated enemy? And even more so, she had hid it from Carol. Carol's eyes darkened with a feeling of hurt and rage at the thoughts that Rogue had tricked _her_ friend into befriending that…that life-sucking bitch.

"How come she jus' gets to go?" Carol asked, now feeling angry that she had been betrayed by one of her closest friends.

Rogue was terribly uncomfortable, and she wasn't hiding it well. She shifted again nervously before responding to Carol. As always, her southern accent was thicker in her mouth when she was nervous. "It…It was a part of tha deal…" She trailed off; realizing Carol wouldn't understand 'the deal' and probably just get more enraged because she didn't understand the details.

True to Rogue's predictions, she just got angrier. "Wait, what deal? You made a deal with this guy to get her off and not the rest of us?" Of course, the rest of us meant mainly Carol, who was also suffering under captivity of the robed man, but Rogue liked to think she also meant the situation with everybody in it, including the other captives and the two teams of super heroes.

"It's a'long story…" Rogue started uneasily, Carol interrupted nastily.

"We've got a long time, go on." She motioned Rogue to tell her the story, Rogue didn't necessarily want Carol to understand everything, but thought it might build a sort of trust between them-at least for the time being-if she told her. So for the next twenty minutes, Rogue told Carol what had happened from when they separated to their current situation. She explained everything she could, but skimmed over parts she didn't want to go deep into with Carol.

At the end of her story, Carol looked unsure. Rogue didn't know whether it was from disbelief or just because she didn't know how to react. After an awkward moment of silence, Carol sighed.

"It doesn't look as if we're getting out of here anytime soon…have you tried to contact Jean or your Professor?" Rogue silently noticed '_your_ Professor', as far as she knew, Carol had once been a part of the X-Men too, until she herself joined. It was still Carol's Professor too, but the anger behind her words, directed at Charles for letting Rogue join, was evident.

"Ah tried, but then he noticed," She directed her gaze towards the back of the robed man, "And...he," She faltered for a word, "punished meh for it. He can read mah thoughts, so Ah didn't trah again."

Carol's look said very clearly that she thought Rogue a coward for giving up so easily, and Rogue flinched away at the harsh glare. She, too, felt cowardly for allowing the pain to affect her so much to the point that she'd stop trying to reach out for help. The pain was simply too much, she couldn't concentrate enough to send a telepathic message to Jean with it, and didn't want to ask Wanda to, for fear of the agony. It made her feel weak and helpless which were two things Rogue hated feeling.

Rogue winced at the thought, but she couldn't think of anything more productive to do. Since she couldn't reach out with her mind to Jean with the pain, she might as well let Carol try. "Ya could trah…Ah couldn't 'cuz of tha pain, bu' maybe ya can." She was nervous again, and her accent showed it, but before Carol could so much as nod in agreement or open her mouth, a cold, slimy voice rang out directly behind Rogue. "Won't do you any good. Your friend that just left has already called out to them," Rogue felt his cold, lifeless hand on her shoulder and shivered involuntarily, automatically she pulled away, but he didn't let her. He shook his head, but only Carol saw the movement. "I don't think so, Chosen One. It is time for you to awaken the guardians."

Carol blanched and Rogue turned her head to look at the robed man. "What? There was nothing about guardians in our deal, forget it. Ah'm not awakenin' anything."

He didn't look moved. "You will awaken them. Don't you remember your first vision?"

Rogue thought back, it seemed like such a long time ago that was perhaps only days or even hours. When she thought back on it, she remembered. The fire that had burned along side her, the want, no, not want, the need for torture, the feast of the pain of others. The feelings washed over her like a wave and suddenly Rogue found herself cringing with Carol giving her a distinctly worried look.

"Rogue?" Rogue must not have heard her at first; she blinked and stared back up at the robed man.

"I see you remember now."

Rogue gave him a look of disgust. "Ah'll never want ya'r stupid Lucifer near meh. Ah won't feel that way, that…that wasn't meh."

The robed man shook his head, as if he had expected Rogue to know this all along. "Of course it wasn't you. It was a demon that served the Master, given just a little power so you could experience a minute taste of it."

"Ah don't want ta experience anything." Rogue was getting angry now; her voice was a near bellow and her distinct southern twang tinged her words as she shouted. "Why'd it haveta be meh in the first place? Ah never wanted ta be Chosen for ya'r sick Lucifa, whatever. Ah'm not awakening anything-"

"_YOU WILL ADRESS HIM AS MOST HIGH LUCIFER,"_ The bellow was twice Rogue's tone, she went silent. It looked as if the robed man wanted to hit her, but he refrained from doing so. Instead, lowering his voice to a calmer tone he addressed her again. "And you will awaken them as I tell you, or I'll kill her." He looked at Carol, Carol's eyes widened, as if she expected Rogue to still resist. His smile was thin, but smug. "We didn't choose her for nothing, you know."

Rogue gaped; the twisted bastard had gone as low as could possibly be. He was using the one person in the world that Rogue was most guilt-stricken about as his bargaining chip to get her to do everything he wanted. Rogue would never intentionally do anything to purposely harm the girl again, she was deeply sorry for attacking Carol when she was a mislead young mutant. That day had come to haunt her for the rest of her life.

But Rogue was still not without her wits. She was a quick thinker and if he was going to be so low, then so was she. "Ya can't continue the process until Ah do this, ta mah understanding." Rogue knew the guardians had to be raised from her nightmares. Carol, who didn't know what Rogue was playing at, looked stricken at the words. Her eyes bulged and she stared at Rogue as if she were seeing her for the first time. Rogue knew she was taking a risk, a huge risk, but she had made up her mind.

The robed man, knowing her thoughts, smirked. "Don't think you can hide anything from me Rogue. I know you would never let Miss Danvers die to save yourself. As an X-Men, you're too damn self righteous." This was true, but Rogue had expected it.

Praying silently that he wouldn't dig deep enough to completely know her motives, Rogue sneered unpleasantly at him. "Ah would let 'Miss Danvers' die for mah friends." It wasn't completely true, but it didn't need to be. Rogue would never be able to gamble someone's life in the hopes of saving another, but, as far as she knew, the robed man didn't know that…yet.

Carol was staring at Rogue with horror, Rogue did her best to focus her gaze solely upon the robed man because she knew her true motives would immediately show themselves if she looked at Carol. The robed man seemed undecided, he arched an eyebrow imploringly and then, suddenly, new bonds appeared on Carol. Only these showed up around her throat and started to suffocate the air out of her lungs. Carol gasped and keeled over, fighting desperately for air. She couldn't even claw at the thing choking her because her wrists and ankles were still tightly bound with the material. Rogue kept a solid face, inside, deeper than the robed man was looking, she was inwardly panicking. Carol's gasps for air that would not come were becoming desperate, but she was convinced he still didn't know her motive. That he was still judging her.

A moment passed in which their eyes never left each others faces, Rogue waited with bated breath. Just one more second and she would call him off, for that last second Rogue drowned in misery, hoping against hope-the second seemed to drag out for an hour. Rogue opened her mouth to speak, and the connection broke. The robed man snapped his fingers and the bonds around Carol's neck disintegrated. Carol gasped, taking in large amounts of air for the lack she had until then, the robed man glared down at Rogue.

"You would have had me, Chosen One, had you not projected your panic so forcibly during the last second. Nice try." Rogue's heart fell, he had known! He found her out in her ploy, and it seemed her last hope was shattered. The robed man's features turned into a half smile, gloating over his victory. "If you try it again, she's dead."

Rogue turned away from him and wrenched her shoulder out of his grasp. She maneuvered over to Carol and tried to help the other mutant into a sitting position, but Carol paddled away from her in fear. "Don't touch me, you bitch! You just almost got me killed!"

Rogue's heart sank even further in her chest. Not only had she screwed up the only chance at bargaining that they had, she also only further alienated Carol from her when she desperately needed her help to get them both out of this mess. Didn't she realize Rogue had done it to try to bargain her life's safety? No, instead Carol took the situation as an attack to her. Rogue had just been trying to help, but she only had made things worse.

"Carol Ah…" She was cut off before she could even get the thought put into words.

"No, don't. The next time you try to bargain for your friends' safety; don't use me as the life-dependant chip! And next time, do it right! You didn't even get anything out of it!" With that, Carol fell into a coughing fit. Rogue lowered her gaze to the floor before speaking to the robed man, whom she knew was still behind her.

"Fine, Ah'll 'awaken' ya'r Guardians if-"

The robed man cut her off, smiling again in that unpleasant way. "You're in no position to bargain with me, Rogue. So here's the deal, you'll awaken the Guardians, and I won't kill Miss Danvers. I promise."

Rogue had lost, she was surprised just by the offer right then. She doubted him though; he had a way of twisting promises. "Fine, but she's comin' with meh then. Ah won't have ya twist another deal." Carol looked like she'd prefer to stay where she was and have Rogue as far away as possible.

If possible, his look grew even more smug and he smiled further. "Oh, that request isn't necessary. She's your Guardian."

Rogue didn't have to ask 'what?', he answered her confused look before she could form the word. "Yes, that's right. The pathway to the Guardian's lair is laden with traps, although you have little to be worried of, being the Chosen One you're naturally protected by the Most High Lucifer, but it's very likely that the Guardian does not make it out alive." He turned around; Rogue could practically see his gloating smile through the back of his head. "I said I would not kill Carol, I never said that she wouldn't die."

--------

Carol glared at Rogue, wondering where in the world Rogue got enough spite to do something as low as she just did. Sure, Carol knew Rogue had just been trying to bargain out a better deal for them and for the rest of their comrades, but what gave her the…the nerve to go about doing it the way she had!

Carol had always hated Rogue, even when they were forced to work together in situations like this. She had never been able to forgive the younger mutant for what she'd robbed Carol of. Carol knew Rogue was a different person, she had a changed heart and she also knew that Rogue _was _sorry for what happened before, but that had never been enough to change Carol's opinion of the girl. She hated her, and probably always would.

Now, in light of their new situation, Carol was having a hard time keeping calm. She was taking in deep breaths, not only from the strangulation, but also to calm her anger. She now saw, from first hand experience, how the mysterious robed man twisted his promises. She would have to be Guardian of Rogue? How the Hell did that happen? From what it sounded like, Rogue didn't even need a Guardian! This was just a creatively unjust way to get her killed. Not that Carol was much worried about that. She had pulled out of worse with barely a scratch; she trusted her abilities to keep her safe.

But to be as Guardian to Rogue? The prospect was comical, if viewed by someone other than Carol. Rogue, who had just almost gotten her killed, Rogue, who had robbed her of her very identity and powers, who stole her individuality and her feelings. She was more likely to kill herself before that happened.

Rogue turned from watching the retreating back of the robed man and looked her way. Carol knew she wasn't being fair to Rogue, who was perhaps in a worse situation than herself, but she didn't much care. To her, it was Rogue's fault that she was here in the first place.

Rogue opened her mouth to speak to Carol. "Carol Ah…Ah'm sorry."

Carol shook her head, "I know what you were going for Rogue, but if you want forgiveness, you're barking up the wrong tree."

But Rogue forcibly shook her head no, as if she wasn't connecting to what Carol was talking about. "No, no, Ah don't…Ah jus' want ta let ya know Ah was sorry…an'…" She looked as if she was going to continue, but then she thought better of it and instead said. "Never mind, let's go."

The robed man was already signaling Rogue and Carol from the other end of the cave. He was facing a blank wall.

Carol hobbled after Rogue (being still bound) to the other end of the cave and looked expectantly at the robed man. He seemed to be having some kind of silent conversation with Rogue because her brow was furrowed and she looked scared. The next thing Carol knew, Rogue had gently placed her hand against the rock wall and it melted away as if it was a mere ice cube. Rogue stepped through the opening into the dull red glow and looked back expectantly, motioning Carol to follow.

Carol frowned and glared menacingly at the robed man. "Gunna take these off?" She asked lowly, indicating her bound wrists and ankles.

"When you get inside."

Carol didn't trust him, but didn't want to experience another choking session. So she hobbled through the opening and it turned solid behind her, back to the rock it once was. Carol was sure she could have punched through it, but didn't see any use in it. Sure enough, as the rock closed behind her, the bonds around her wrists and ankles disintegrated.

Carol lifted her gaze to their new landscape, her breath caught in her throat as the fume of flames heated her skin. There was no visible walls or ceiling, only one pathway that led off into the distance, and on either side fire flared forth. The smell of decay was strong and overpowering, yet no corpses showed. Carol crossed her eyebrows, something was wrong. There was just…a feeling, like something was crawling over her skin, something unclean. She shivered, despite the heat and looked at Rogue. Rogue had just shivered too.

"Did ya feel that?"

Carol looked over her shoulder, as if expecting to find the shadow of a figure behind her. "Yeah, this place is creepy. Let's jus' hurry so we can get out of here. Avoid the path, it's probably got all kinds of traps."

Rogue nodded solemnly, and together, the girls took flight.

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_A/N: Hey, I hope you like the new chapter. I want to do something creative with these two, and since this story is Rogue centric, it will focus on her a lot...which means numerous possibilities for these scenes. Hmm :P, well leave me one and tell me what ya think. Thanks to all my readers, you keep me up. Also, for some reason, my PM and alerts and everything from fanfiction just stopped working, so if you want to talk to me seperately, don't send it through a message from fanfiction, get my email and send it from email to email. _

_Thanks guys, I hope I'm still keepin' ya interested_


	11. Revelations

"Hell, it's about time!" Logan, Scott, Hank, and Bobby had been walking for well over a few hours. It had seemed pointless; they'd encountered nothing, except bare stretches of the dry land for hours. Now, finally, they had found something. 

At first glance, Logan would have guessed it was an old style hut city. It was made loosely of wood, but not the kind of wood that would be for building. No, this wood was like sticks and twigs, stacked next to each other and roped around with a thick vine that looked suspiciously like poison ivy. They would have looked like elementary TPs, if not for the lack of animal skin and the roof. It was curious, some of the roofs were made of the same sticks that built up their houses, and some was a maroon plant that looked like discolored straw. There were rows upon rows of these small buildings, as if the people in charge had planned to look identical down the line when they created them. But the building that caught the most attention was the furthest, and Logan doubted that his teammates could even make out the shape; so far it was in the distance.

Logan didn't know it then, because he couldn't see, but he would find out soon enough that place was their exact destination. It was not like the other huts, it was massive and strongly built with stone and brick instead of twigs and branches. The stones were evenly matched and one could almost say it looked like a pyramid, stacked high to the top and getting smaller all the way along.

What seemed to be the only problem was that nobody was visible. Or at least, they weren't outside. Logan could guess from the smoke protruding out the tops of the huts that people-or at least, something, was inside of them. He sniffed the air, not liking the fact that nobody was outside. Something wasn't right about this place. The scent just confused him more, as far as he could tell, no human thing was around, but that wasn't necessarily good because it meant something else was inside those huts. Something that was intelligent enough to create fire.

The others seemed to get the same feeling of something wrong too. Bobby was nervously shifting from foot to foot, Scott was gazing around like he'd never seen a hut before, and Hank voiced Logan's suspicions. "Something's not right."

Logan spit on the dry, gray ground and turned to the group. "D'ya see the building way back behind all these copycats?" To Logan's predictions, they all shook their heads. "Well, it looks different from all these others. I think we should just avoid these guys and go straight there, I don't want any more trouble than its worth and this place is definitely screwy."

"Don't you think we should try to ask around? See where we are, before barging down into the biggest building here? They might be friendly." Scott proclaimed indulgently, he never liked Wolverine's cannonball barge-in style.

Logan shook his head, "No, I don't. That screwball didn't send us ta no fairy tale land. The inhabitants here aren't human and I rather not find out why he sent us here if I can help it." Logan snorted shortly, "And I doubt they're friendly."

Scott snorted, he knew the older mutant had a point, but that still didn't solve anything. And Scott hated when Logan was right. "Then how exactly do you suggest we get out of here?"

Logan grunted and gave him a withering look. "That's what we're goin' to the big place for. If there's anyway back, it's gotta be in the damn most impressive buildin' on the block."

Scott's jaw clenched at Logan's response. He didn't like going about it, sneaking from the start, but Logan was probably right. The team of four heroes skirted the outskirts of the city and made their way down. It was a long walk, even considering the fact that they had been walking for several hours, but Logan could see they were getting closer, and after a while, the others did too. They came upon the building after what felt like an hour, but as Hank's watch wasn't working in this new dimension they were in, they couldn't be sure.

The building was just as Logan had seen it miles back. It stood much taller than the little huts that surrounded it and was built of sturdy stone. The stone blocks were arranged in a pyramid style which left Bobby wondering if they were going to go underground upon entering. There was nothing particularly fancy about the huge pyramid, it stood surprisingly even and the blocks were well cut, for all the shabby huts that surrounded it, but it wasn't decorated in any way.

Scott stared from the Northeastern corner of the aligned rows of huts that apparently made a village. "Now what? We can't cut across without passing these dwellings."

Logan snorted at the term dwellings. The huts were little more than stacks of twigs that were dirt packed together. "We walk across, obviously."

He started to lead the way, but Scott put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "What? No, we can't do that. What if you trip an alarm?"

Logan's eyebrows rose as he glanced across the landscape before him. "Don' think they'll have any alarms, bub."

To Scott's annoyance, Hank supported Logan. "Yes, they're much too primal to have any complicated traps either. They may have some, but they'll be easily seen and avoidable. We just have to be careful."

"We could still be heard." Scott added defensively.

"Then shut up an' be quite 'bout it."

Bobby remained silent, caught up in his own thoughts.

The group of X-Men proceeded forward through the rows of huts. Even though Logan heard activity in most of the huts, nobody came outside and apparently, nobody had heard them. Logan didn't detect any kind of trap, but he didn't expect to. Not yet, at least, maybe when they entered the pyramid. They made their way around to the North end of the pyramid where a sturdy, stone door could be seen.

Scott stepped up to blow the door away with his optic blasts, but Logan moved in front of him and shook his head. In a small, obviously mocking voice of Scott, Logan mimicked. "We could be heard."

Scott glared at him, but Logan didn't see because of his visor. "Then what are we supposed to do, smartass?" Even in a hushed tone, Logan winced at his loudness.

"Shut up already, toothpick." He turned to Hank. "Fuzzball, get that end." Hank winced at the unsavory nickname, but did as he was told. Logan's claws came out with the common _snick _as he wedged them in-between the crack on his end. With some help from Bobby, who iced the edge on Hank's side so he could wiggle his large fingers in, Hank gripped his end and pushed inward while Logan pulled out his end. Logan's claws made a tiny screech that sounded much too loud to him, but in another second he had pulled the door out as Hank pushed his end in and it lurched sideways, allowing the team to enter.

Logan sent a sideways glance at Scott, who clenched his jaw with effort not to blast Logan, and then went into the pyramid first. After the team had gathered in the hallway leading downward, Logan turned to address the group. It was all dark below and he knew he would be the only one to see well in such blackness. Well, he didn't know how Scott's eyes would adjust, but he didn't predict they'd do so well. Before he could even open his mouth, the door behind them shut with an audible snap, leaving all of them cloaked in the dark.

--------

"What are you saying, then?" Jean asked with an edge to her voice that wasn't there a minute ago. "That we can't beat this creature?"

Derrick paused in his rapid page flipping to glance up at Jean. "In older times, no one could have predicted there'd be mutants on the earth. Well…I guess they could have if they had the right research and technology, but they didn't. The Indestructible One has gained control of all the power that your group has and everyone you've come into contact with. Originally, it would just be an extremely strong man, hard to defeat, but not impossible. But, with all of your powers and everyone's that you've come into contact with, it's invincible."

Ororo frowned; there was a way to defeat everything. There had to be. "Then how are we supposed to defeat it? Isn't it prophesied that Rogue is the one to channel the Dark Lord's energy? If so, shouldn't we be able to beat it?"

Derrick shook his head sadly. "Although what you say is true, that your friend, this Rogue, is apparently the Chosen One to be the carrier of the Dark Lord because she was bitten, doesn't mean that you can defeat him on this plain."

Kurt bit his lip in irritation; he just wanted his sister to be safe. Although he trusted Derrick, the old man was not a bringer of good news. "Vhat does vat mean, vat ze have to go on va different plain?"

"It means that the Indestructible One's home is not originally this planet. If he were to be transported back to his world, he would only have the power of his own people to absorb from. And the Indestructible One's people are weak, baseline organisms that have not evolved nearly as far as us."

Kitty sighed; she just wanted her friend to be safe. "Then how did it get into our world in the first place? I mean, if it was so weak and stupid over in its own world, then it couldn't possibly have come here itself."

Derrick nodded eagerly, apparently happy that someone else understood what he was trying to communicate. "That's exactly right, Kitty. It was _called _into this earth by its followers. Although it was believed by his followers, the Indestructible One was never meant to hold the Dark Lord's entity. It was merely set to choose who that would be. Now that it has completed that mission, it is collecting sacrifices for the guardian's awakening."

Captain America jerked his head. "Wait, what?! Is that why it took Carol? She's going to be a sacrifice?!"

Derrick's head dropped, apparently not able to look the other man in the eye. "I think so, the Chosen One is supposed to have a Guardian to walk through the trials. Although that is rubbish, because the Dark Lord would never let harm come to his Chosen vessel. The Guardian's job is merely to be sacrificed along the way as the Chosen One continues forward on their path."

Remy, whose mood had been steadily decreasing as he heard more, burst out. "Dat can' happen! Dey don' have Rogue yet. She's wit' de hairy _hommes_ an' icey."

"And Wanda…" Visions input was barely heard by those around him. Captain America, who stood next to him, stared in surprise at the droid's emotion in the simple statement. How did he-his thoughts were cut off by Pietro's outcry.

"Yeah, and my sister! Nothing happened to them! We would have heard…"

Jean, who was also getting more worried by the second, tried to calm everybody down. "I'll see-Wait-" Before she could finish, a loud, screaming voice rang out through her mind. _JEAN?! JEAN ARE YOU THERE? I NEED HELP, WE NEED HELP. JEAN? HELP!_

Jean let out a moan and fell to her knees, the other woman's voice created an instant headache. _Not so loud Wanda, I can hear you._

Above her, the heroes crowded looking expectantly. Jean spared them just a glance. "It's her, quiet."

_Jean, we're in trouble. Rogue and Carol are locked up inside this cave, and they can't do anything to escape because that cruel robed guy just keeps torturing Rogue. And I don't know what he's planning to do, but I need you guys to get over here so we can-_

Jean interrupted, suddenly full of concern. _Whoa, what? You guys just went to the spot the beast came from, didn't you? What happened?_

There was a pause and Jean wondered if she was still there, but then Wanda's psyche voice came through, almost as if she were out of breath. _Just read my mind, it'll be simpler than trying to tell you…and try to find me! _

_Are you in trouble?_

_A little…just go ahead; read my mind and hurry, I think something might be trying to find me._

Jean did, she gasped at what she saw and projected the images to all of her teammates to save the time it would take to explain it. She was currently hiding in the rocks and red sand that covered the ground outside the cave. _Do you_ _have any idea where the others are?_

_No, sorry. I would have guessed they went to you._

_Hold on, Wanda, we're coming._ Jean used her telepathy to zero in on Wanda's location, she scanned the area all around her and shivered. "Wanda's in Greece, so is Rogue and Carol. Storm-get us there." Remy scampered to the jet's controls.

Storm looked expectantly at Jean. "What of the others?"

Jean closed her eyes again, her headache, on top of all the telepathy, was growing. She firmly pressed her fingers to her temples. When nothing came up, she did so again, expanding her search all around. She couldn't even feel the familiar link she had with Scott. That meant…

Jean's voice was panicked. "There's no trace of them on this planet…"

--------

Carol sighed and stopped in midair, causing Rogue to halt and turn around to face her. "This is useless, we're not getting anywhere."

Silently, Rogue agreed. It had to be going on an hour that they simply flew forward to nothing more than the single pathway. The smell of decay hadn't died and Rogue was feeling a little nauseous from it. The only change was the fire that leapt over the sides of the pathway had stopped, but the heat was still insufferably hot. Rogue would have cut off her own hands to get Bobby in there right then. With sweat dripping down her face, Rogue stared at Carol. "What do ya suggest we do?"

Obviously, Carol took the comment offensively, which Rogue had not meant. "I don't know, it's your fault we're here in the first place!"

Rogue responded sarcastically, probably not the best reaction, but she was tired and annoyed. "Oh, Ah'm sorry that Ah couldn't prevent mahself from gettin' bitten. Next time Ah'll warn mahself of being Chosen fohr the Devil's vessel."

"If you weren't so careless in the first place, that might not have happened."

Rogue glared at Carol. "It woulda happened ta ya first if ya had been more concerned with people's safety than ya're shoppin' day."

"Excuse me for having a social life."

"Excuse meh fohr carin' about someone otha than mahself."

"Don't you dare accuse me of being selfish, you bitch!"

Without warning, Carol lunged at Rogue. There was nothing to land on except the single strip of land in the middle that seemed to go on forever, so Carol just dragged her downward along the side of the middle land strip. Rogue let out a strangled cry as Carol punched her hard. Rogue felt her jaw tremble and could taste the metallic taste of blood on her lip as she fought to pull the enraged mutant off her. Without having a grip hold on anything, she grabbed Carol's arm and used Carol's weight as her leverage to slam the girl against the floor of the middle pathway.

Carol cried out, more in frustration than pain as Rogue pulled back her arm to punch her. Before bringing her fist down, Rogue froze. Taking this hesitation as weakness, Carol kicked up at Rogue with both feet firmly planted against her stomach. Rogue coughed, spitting out blood from her lip, and steadied herself in the air.

Carol came up to meet her when Rogue held both hands out in way to calm the enraged mutant. "Wait!"

Rogue's voice seemed to call back a meager amount of sense to the girl and Carol froze too, eyeing the girl suspiciously as if she expected Rogue to strike. But Rogue wasn't looking at Carol; she was looking downward at the top of the small pathway. "Carol, didn't ya pull meh downward?"

Carol dropped her defensive guard and stared down at what the other girl was looking at. It was true that Carol had pulled Rogue downward, but she didn't connect any point in what the other mutant was trying to connect. "What's it matter?"

"Because if ya pulled meh downward, which ya did, then shouldn't we be below the pathway, not above it?"

Carol looked down again, and her brow furrowed this time. That was right. How did they end up above the pathway?

"Wait a minute, stay here, ok?"

Carol was about to protest when Rogue flew off in the forward direction that the path was leading. Annoyed, Carol was about to follow when Rogue appeared behind Carol and had to slide to a stop in midair to keep from colliding with her. "What the?"

Rogue already understood. "We've jus' been goin' in a huge circle!"

Carol frowned. "Then where the hell did we enter?"

Rogue shook her head. She didn't know. "Trah goin' East." Carol spun around in the general direction and zoomed forward. In another second, she encountered Rogue again, hanging suspended in midair.

"Okay…now what?"

Rogue was at a loss. "Ah don't know, he wouldn't send us in here fohr nothin', would he? Ah mean, aren't we supposed ta awaken his guardians or somethin'?"

Carol snorted. "Or something."

"Maybe we're supposed ta follow the path."

Carol looked at her as if she'd gone insane. But lately, she looked at her a lot like that, so Rogue wasn't affected by it. "What's that supposed to change?"

"Ah dunno, it's worth a trah, ain't it?" Carol rolled her eyes at the other woman's logic-or lack of, but followed Rogue to the path anyway. Rogue landed with a flump. "Ah'll go first since ya're supposed ta die in this or somethin'."

Carol narrowed her eyes at Rogue's obvious lack of caring. They started to follow the pathway down and after a short time, they came upon something different. Carol didn't say anything about Rogue being right, and was glad the other mutant wasn't being smug about it. She really just wanted to punch Rogue again, but she knew she had got the better hand in the fight-despite the fact that Rogue really wasn't trying to hurt her.

They came upon the new structure and Rogue couldn't help the gasp of awe that escaped her lips. Before them stood the largest, most beautiful emerald stone that Rogue had ever seen. The stone reminded Carol too much of Rogue's eyes for her to gasp in awe, but she was surprised by it. Carol went forward next to Rogue, but Rogue held out a hand.

"It could be a trap."

"Or it could be the thing you're supposed to awaken the 'Guardians' with." Carol replied sarcastically.

Rogue's brow furrowed. "Ah'm not goin' ta awaken anything that's gunna help that guy." But Carol was staring at Rogue like she'd never seen her before. She didn't even appear to have heard her, but for the response.

"GET AWAY FROM IT!" Again, without warning, Rogue was tackled down by Carol and yanked away from the stone by the scruff of her shirt. Rogue caught one last glimpse of it before Carol flew her away.

"What the hell are ya doin'?"

Carol actually looked nervous. "You…you didn't feel that?"

Rogue squinted, confused. "Feel what?"

Carol pointed to Rogue's eyes. "Your eyes, they're glowing…its fading now, but they were almost neon. Damn near blinding."

Rogue didn't feel anything, but when she turned, she saw the emerald again and a soft, commanding voice rang through her mind. _Approach the stone, come to it. _Rogue had no other thoughts, but to obey.


	12. Make a Choice

Carol noticed Rogue turn and saw the flare of neon return to Rogue's eyes before the other mutant took a step towards the stone. Frowning, Carol grabbed Rogue's arm and yanked her back again.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Rogue didn't appear to even notice Carol; she simply pulled her arm out of Carol's grasp and continued forward. Annoyed, Carol grabbed Rogue by the shoulders and pulled her back away. "I thought we agreed that you're not going to awaken anything. Seriously, Rogue, what are you doing?" She spun Rogue around in her arms so that the southern belle was facing her. Rogue's eyes dimmed for a second to their newly natural black color while she stared at Carol, seeming to try to comprehend something.

It was something Carol never expected to feel towards this particular mutant, but she was getting a little worried. Rogue wasn't responding normally and the distant look in her ever-changing eyes brought more than just concern to Carol's usually cool demeanor. "Are you alright? Rogue…?"

Upon receiving no response, other than the spine-chilling gaze, Carol shook Rogue by the shoulders. "Snap out of it."

Inside, Rogue was raging a losing war against the calling need to return to the emerald. The voice inside her mind only grew as she turned her head away from Carol's violent shaking to the stone. _Nothing can stop you from reaching the stone…_

Rogue blinked and turned back to Carol who was still holding her firmly by the shoulders, but had stopped shaking her. Instead, Carol was pulling her _away_ from the giant emerald, in hopes of bringing Rogue back to her normal self. It was a useless battle.

_NOW_ Rogue turned back to Carol, with an unbreakable desire to reach the stone, her eyes flared and she gripped Carol's arms with her gloved hands. With a forced effort, she pushed the surprised mutant off of her and turned on her heel to head back to the emerald.

Although Carol didn't completely understand what was going on, she could tell something was wrong with Rogue. And since Rogue was trying to get to the stone, her best bet was to stop Rogue from what she was trying to achieve. Then she'd figure out what to do with her later, but for now, preventing Rogue from reaching the stone was her only goal.

Carol pushed herself up from the ground and jumped on Rogue's retreating back. At the same time, she leveraged her legs against Rogue's form and pushed sharply downward so that her feet firmly planted against the back of Rogue's knees. Unsuspecting and apparently unaware, Rogue went down like a ton of bricks. Carol quickly swiped at Rogue's hands to prevent Rogue from reaching back, but she wasn't quick enough. Rogue's fist arched back at a nearly impossible angle and connected solidly with Carol's jaw.

Carol grunted as her head was thrown back from the force behind Rogue's fist. Rogue took quick advantage of the distraction to flip on her back so that Carol was pinned under her. Carol's head banged against the crumbling ground beneath her and she winced. But Rogue's flipped position gave Carol the advantage, Carol levitated them both into the air, her body carried Rogue upward and she harshly reared back her head to bring it crashing forward into the back of Rogue's skull before the other mutant could react from being lifted into the air.

The action sent a wave of pain and an instant headache to Carol, but had apparently also hurt Rogue a lot more. Rogue's head snapped forward and a low moan escaped her slightly parted lips. She pulled away from Carol, but before she was able to completely turn, Carol detected a dark red stain spreading to cover her chestnut hair.

If Carol had been hoping the jar to Rogue's head would bring the obsessed mutant back to her senses, she would have been disappointed. Rogue's eyes were still eerily glowing a deep green color and she only appeared more enraged from the harsh attack. Then, for a half of a second, she froze and Carol had a fleeting hope that Rogue was back, but in another second she shook it off and her light eyebrows crossed in a dark, angry manner. Without further hesitation, she roughly pulled off her gloves and flew at Carol with her bare hands outstretched.

Carol's eyes widened in fear and apprehension as she barely avoided contact with Rogue's deadly flesh. By the time she had turned around, Rogue was already charging back at her. This time, Carol wasn't quick enough.

She avoided direct contact, but Rogue managed to grab her shirt and roughly pulled Carol towards her. Carol frantically grabbed for Rogue's other hand, which had arched towards her exposed face, she managed to catch her by the shoulder merely an inch before Rogue's hungry hand touched her face.

Sweat dripping down her brow, Carol struggled to push Rogue's hand away by forcing her body further away. To her absolute horror, Carol couldn't push Rogue away. She was pushing back on shoulder with _all_ of her strength, but Rogue wasn't budging. That shouldn't be surprising, since Rogue had absorbed her strength and they should be exactly even in strength. But, after a moment that felt like an hour, something happened that increased Carol's fear by a tenfold. Carol's arm wavered and Rogue's hand inched closer, to the distance of only a centimeter away.

Desperate now, and near tears, Carol tried to call out to Rogue. Her voice was strained with fear and forced out through a hoarsely raw throat. "Rogue…please…no. Not again." It was a beg, Carol was begging Rogue, the woman she hated most in the world and, at this moment, the woman she was most afraid of by a single touch.

Nothing changed in Rogue's passive features and Carol's arm quavered again. Rogue was stronger than her, she was going to win. Carol let out a cry of anguish and flipped around. It was a last ditch effort and it didn't work. Not completely, at least. Rogue's hand brushed Carol's exposed face for a fraction of a second and Carol felt the all too familiar nightmarish feeling of draining. It lasted for no more than that half a second, but it left Carol drained and weak. She fell from the sky to land harshly on the single, middle strip of land.

For a full out minute, Rogue stared at Carol with a look that could be compared to regret. Her eyes were not their regular green, or even the bright neon that shone forth for the last twenty minutes, they were blue. Carol could only stare back into Rogue's confused and guilty face before the calling came back to Rogue.

_Now, come._ Unintentionally, Rogue felt her head lift to stare at the huge emerald that stood stiffly at the end of the pathway. All other thoughts erased and Carol saw the green glow wash over her gaze again. With barely a glance back at Carol, Rogue left the weakened Carol splayed on the floor and began to make her way to the stone. Carol's eyes closed in exasperation and she called out one last time. "Rogue, no…" It was meant to be a scream of resistance, but it came out barely above a whisper. Carol was sure Rogue had heard her anyway, but she didn't acknowledge her. She was solely fixed on her destination, the stone.

With two more long strides, Rogue had come upon the stone. She stared into it for what seemed like forever before stretching out one pale, exposed finger. Carol tried to get up and move, but the effort was too much. She couldn't do it. Carol was surprised she was still conscious, but at this point, she wasn't sure if the was a good thing.

Rogue's outstretched finger gently touched the stone and the reaction was immediate. Rogue's body stiffened and she let out a cry of pain. From Carol's point of view, it looked like Rogue had come back to her senses and was trying to pull away from the stone, but she couldn't be sure because Rogue's back was still to her. Either way, Rogue managed to pull away and reeled back from contact with the stone. In another moment, she fell to her knees and clutched her head with both hands, mumbling something incoherent.

Around Carol, the strip of land began to shake and all Hell broke loose.

--------

Strong, vile voices, images, pictures ran through Rogue's mind and her feet gave way from under her as she clutched her head in a futile attempt to force them out. Destruction and death were clear in Rogue's mind. People, innocent people, were being tortured and killed to _his_ pleasure.

Rogue saw the death and pain; she lived through it, as countless fell. The robed man had been right; there _was _no stopping this monster. Behind all the pain, Rogue heard a single, small voice calling out to her.

"Rogue…" Rogue opened her tear filled eyes and spun around to see Carol lying, almost as limp as a ragdoll, in the middle of the single strip of land that had begun to violently shake. Staggering, Rogue got to her feet and made the short distance over to Carol. Her eyes filled with horror at the memory of fighting Carol, of invading her. Again.

No longer even aware of her surroundings, strength left Rogue as guilt overcame her at the sight of Carol's weakened form and she fell to her knees besides the girl who hated her so much. Rogue's breath hitched in her throat as she tried to speak. "Carol, Ah-Ah'm so-so sorry. Ah-"

With what little strength Carol had, she stared up at Rogue and interrupted her softly. "Later Rogue, I…I know that wasn't you." Rogue's eyes widened in shock and Carol's darted away from hers. Instead, she glanced over the edge of the trembling pathway. "I…I think you'll have to get us out of here."

Rogue nodded agreeably before she held out her arms and picked Carol up. She cradled Carol to her chest as if she were carrying a baby and took off at a run down the pathway. She hadn't taken ten steps before the ground gave a particularly violent jolt and a creature rose from one of the pits below. It was one of the strangest, most foreign things Rogue had ever seen. The creature resembled a gargoyle, with dark, scaly skin and yellow gleaming eyes. Its wingspan was easily twice her height and Rogue estimated it to be a good two feet taller than herself. It had clawed hands and feet, and when it opened its mouth, Rogue saw the double rows of fangs. As soon as its mouth opened, it began to howl.

It was the worst noise Rogue had ever heard and it instantly went to her skull, giving her a throbbing migraine. The tone was so high pitched and concentrated that Rogue was sure it would have instantly shattered glass, had any been around. A groan escaped Rogue's lips at the sound as the throbbing in her head escalated as the gargoyle monster held its pitch. Below her, Carol had her hands pressing against her ears and her eyes tightly shut. There were tears streaming down her cheeks. At the sight of Carol, all small and vulnerable in Rogue's arms, Rogue picked up the pace even more as she began sprinting down the pathway, trying to escape the gargoyle's cries.

As fate would have it, the ground below her started responding to the gargoyle's scream. A piece fell away from in front of her as parts of the floating walkway crumbled. Around her, another dark form rose into the air, followed by two after that. Rogue's heart sunk as more and more dark skinned gargoyles flew into the air. There were thousands of them, lining the walls and staring down at her, as if waiting. Finally, the one who had started the cry cut off and there was silence. The only sound that could be heard was the panting of Rogue's breath and the flapping of thousands of wings against the stale air.

Rogue continued down the pathway, trying to ignore the yellow eyes that followed her steps. Carol's head turned up and around in wonder and fear as her gaze traveled around the flying beasts above them. Her forehead creased and her hands went to her head again as if she were in pain.

Rogue continued running. When she saw Carol's reactions, she grew worried. "Carol, what's wrong?"

Carol rubbed at her skull as her breathing grew ragged. "Something's talking to me. Can't you hear it?" Rogue shook her head. "It's calling out to me—God, ow!" Carol cradled her head in her hands. Rogue's joints screamed in protest as she tried to push them even harder and her lungs seemed to lodge in her dry throat. Her esophagus was burning, but Rogue knew she couldn't stop. If she stopped, she might not be able to start again.

"Don't listen to it, Carol. We'll be outa here soon."

Carol rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand, keeping them tightly shut and one hand still holding her head. "I don't think so, Rogue. You haven't awaken the Guardians yet."

Rogue's eyes travelled around her at the gargoyles. "Then who the hell are they?"

Carol kept her eyes shut. "They're here to help the ceremony."

"What are ya talkin' about, Carol? What ceremony? How do ya know all this?"

"Rogue, stop running." Without questioning why, Rogue pulled up short. Her legs gave out from under her as she collapsed to the walkway floor, breathing raggedly and inhaling sharply. Carol opened her eyes as Rogue laid her down for a moment, trying to catch her breath. Carol's blue eyes were shimmering with unshed tears and it was obvious that she was trying to hold them back. "Listen to me, Rogue."

Rogue forced herself to open her eyes and look at Carol. Carol was biting down hard on her lower lip to keep the tears from coming. "What is it?"

"I…" Carol breathed in deeply as humid air filled her needy lungs. "I want to say that I'm sorry, Rogue. I'm sorry for not forgiving you for absorbing me all those years ago." Rogue's mouth gaped open, but Carol held up a hand to let her finish. "I know you've changed since then and I've been unfair to you by holding a grudge. I forgive you for what happened that day." Carol exhaled quickly then sped on, "If I don't make it out of here—"

"Carol! You're goin' ta make it out of here!"

Carol wore a pained expression. "Rogue, please—"

"No, Carol, Ah promise Ah'm goin' ta getcha outah here. Ah'm not goin' ta let ya down again."

"It won't be your fault." Carol whispered.

Rogue blanched. "What? Carol?" Carol didn't respond. "Do ya know somethin' that Ah don't?"

Carol swallowed thickly and turned away. Rogue's eyes widened in understanding. Carol had apologized to Rogue because she knew she was about to die—and she didn't want Rogue to go through the rest of her life guilt-stricken about it. Rogue's lips parted as a small gasp escaped between them. It was the most selfless thing Carol had ever done for her. "Carol, ya have ta tell meh what ya saw."

Carol shivered slightly, despite the heat. "There's no way out if the Guardians are not awoken—we'd be stuck here forever. But to wake them…you need to sacrifice your Guardian in reverence so that they can come to you."

Rogue drew in a deep breath. "Ah'm not goin' ta kill ya, Carol."

"You don't really have a choice." Carol turned her head to the side again and flames reflected in her eyes. "They're already here for you."

Rogue followed her gaze and found herself staring at a grand altar before her. The platform widened into a circle and flames licked either end along the sides. The giant emerald stood behind the raised circular platform. Gargoyles lined the edges of the circle, all passively sitting and watching. At the very far end of the circle sat a larger gargoyle, bigger and more intimidating than the rest. In one of its claws, it grasped a razor sharp knife.

Three of the gargoyles began approaching and one scooped down to pick Carol up. "No!" Rogue screamed and lunged for the gargoyle, but its two companions grabbed her and hauled her back. Rogue fought with all her strength and succeeded in kicking one gargoyle off the ledge. The other grabbed her arms, as if to withstrain her, but his strength was nothing compared to hers and she easily pushed him aside as she struggled to move forward.

Other gargoyles moved to intercept her, but the one that had taken Carol stopped them with a screech and laid his fangs against Carol's neck in threat. Rogue froze, afraid that he would bite Carol if she continued fighting, but torn between the desire to help her. Carol gave Rogue a meek, forced smile and Rogue wondered why she wasn't fighting for herself. The question only lingered momentarily before it hit her—Carol was letting this happen, accepting death, for her escape. The thought made Rogue sick. Carol was giving up her life for her.

Two gargoyles stood on either side of the raised middle circle. One held Carol's arms down while the other grabbed her legs. Carol sat still, letting them hold her down as the lead gargoyle approached Rogue. Others pushed her forward from the back until she was standing right before Carol's prone body.

_Drive it straight through her heart._ The gargoyle pressed the knife into her hands and Rogue was alarmed when it slightly cut into her palm. The knife was able to cut through her invulnerable skin—which would undoubtedly cut through Carol's too.

Time seemed to freeze, in Rogue's opinion. She stood before Carol with the knife in her hands, frozen, unable to move. Rogue was certain she'd never be able to kill this girl. She had stolen so much from Carol already, she didn't deserve the right to take her life as well. Carol deserved to die a hero, known and celebrated, not alone with her most hated enemy in the depths of hell without anyone witnessing her sacrifice.

Below her, Carol judged Rogue's indecision. "It's okay." Her voice was strained and low, silent almost. "You have to escape, Rogue. One of us does and it's not going to be me. Do it. I forgive you."

The knife grew heavier in Rogue's palm.


End file.
